Happy Birthday Ekta

As the Creative Head of family-owned production house Balaji Telefilms, Ekta Kapoor's rise from self-proclaimed lazy disinterested teen to TV's backroom diva, is as mesmerizing as the soaps she produced. There has always been something extraordinary in Ekta – from the way she transformed living rooms in India with her saas-bahu sagas to her foray into trippy, edgy films and her maverick (many would say boorish) personality.

On her 36th birthday, here's a snapshot on the making of Ekta Kapoor.

Clap for Queen Ekta: In 2001, Ekta was selected by the Confederation of Indian Industries, (CII) to head the committee on entertainment. She also received a number of awards over the years. Some of the awards are: "Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year" (in 2001), "Corporate Excellence" from Bharat Petroleum (in 2002), "Rajiv Gandhi Award" (in 2002). In 2001, Asiaweek magazine included her in the list of "Asia's 50 most Powerful Communicators."

Street-smart Ekta was never into academics. At 19, she took her father Jeetendra's advice and ventured into the field of TV-production. She was soon to change the face of Indian Television as we knew it!

She struck gold as the producer of many hit TV shows, her main audience being the Bharatiya housewife. Her incredible hits' list will include Hum Paanch, Kaisa Ye Pyaar Hai, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Khaani Ghar Ghat Ki and many more biggies- a list that speaks for itself.

During this mercurial phase in Ekta's career, when she whipped Balaji Telefilms into a production frenzy of TV soaps, she made families adjust their evening schedules to her show timings. At one point, she made 38 of the top 50 shows across Indian channels.

Ekta Kapoor who is a big believer of astrology and numerology, makes sure that her numbers come up to a total of 3, 6 or 9 and likes her soap opera names starting with K.
“I was interested in creating a brand. I realised that K, the teeka, the whole thing stood for a certain kind of television... It worked for me. The day I thought, now people are expecting a certain kind of show from me, I gave up the K.”

Blinded by spending excesses, Ekta failed to capture the changing Indian mentality eventually. Her over-the-top, heart-wrenching family dramas were making less money when she sued her sole customer, Star Plus, for taking her marquee show Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi off air.
Perhaps it was time to move to the big screen.

There were now traces of orange where the teeka used to be- Ekta was changing and the transformation extended to her company as well. Just as the trade analysts were ready to strike her off as just another ‘one-time wonder', Ekta proved everyone wrong.

With the exception of the good-luck rings she still proudy sports, she got rid of her superstitions and the famously notorious temper. The tongue-lashings were passé- today she gives all the credit to her father Jeetendra, mother Shobha Kapoor and corporate finance professional Puneet Kinra for the change.

Not only has she patched up with Star Plus, she has also begun working with top channels such as Colors and Zee and strengthened ties with regional channels such as Sun and Udaya.

Venturing into saucier entertainment for Gen Y, she started Alt Entertainment – because Balaji was heavily associated with only traditional drama.
Dibakar Banerjee's Love Sex Aur Dhokha was the first venture.

Ekta has produced Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta, Kucch To Hai, Krishna Cottage, Koi Aap Sa and Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, besides co-producing Shootout at Lokhandwala and Mission Istanbul.
After the success of her other productions- Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai and Shor in the City, Ekta last lent her hand at producing Ragini MMS. With biggies like Dirty Picture already in the kitty, Ekta's come-back is more apparent than ever before.

The queen bee stung left, right and centre on close friend KJo's Koffee With Karan with brother Tusshar Kapoor. We saw a flash of the old notorious Ekta, but we couoldn't help but notice how the Kapoor girl had changed.
And NO, we do not speak of her outfits- they still remain black. Somethings never change, thank Ekta for that!