"India must stop having problems with sex"- Ekta Kapoor

"Banana, strawberry...do one thing, give a full fruit salad. And yes, chocolate...for dessert." This is not a woman buying groceries, but condoms in a scene from a web-series for Ekta Kapoor's newly launched digital app.

TV's reigning queen says she feels like a kid in a candy store with how the app medium lends itself to storytelling which is free from the trappings of being 'acceptable' on a community viewing medium.

"I can't make stories on TV which are bold enough," said Ekta. But this is not a deterrent in private viewing, which has been made a possibility with mobile apps.

The producer opened up on taboo subjects and the social evils that come along with these restrictions. "Still, as far as slang and sex are concerned, I've curtailed it to two shows (on the app). But I think, as a nation, we should stop having a problem with sex. We do not realise that when we start prohibiting and create a sort of taboo against sex, we actually encourage sexual crime."

The progression towards a digital medium and bold subjects is almost a contrast to her earlier work. Ekta, who changed the face of Indian television with shows like 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' and 'Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki' at the start of the new millennium, finds the 'myopic views' somewhat paradoxical - and one that needs to be set right.

"If there's a kiss or if we see a girl in a short skirt, there's a problem, and we actually condemn these things when we have to be way more relaxed about the physical expression of love," she said, pointing out how a girl buying a condom or a pack of sanitary pads, or saying an everyday word like 'bra' in public, or being hush about periods, are made out to be 'issues' when they are not.

There's eve-teasing in so many songs - but that's okay? We're not getting uncomfortable with anything non-consensual. We are uncomfortable with sex," said the Joint Managing Director and Creative Director of Balaji Telefilms.

These pent-up questions in her mind have sort of found a creative vent in the digital medium for Ekta.

"Now, I'm actually able to do TV a lot more easily because I'm able to do this. Thanks to this vent for creative expression, I can tell stories of importance and then come back and say something way more sanitized on TV," she said.

It was a realisation that dawned upon Ekta in 2014 when she came out with 'Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye' - a story of a middle-aged mother, who has been cheated upon by her husband, having an emotional affair with her boss. The show was discontinued following abysmal TV ratings - much to her dismay.

"It was a show very close to my heart, and it never got watched. It was a show with which I was judging India to see if they accept this woman or not. They didn't," Ekta mentioned. 

Now that she is juggling with a variety of content on different mediums, she has an interesting way to put her perspective about it.

"I'll always do TV with full respect. It's like if I start doing house parties, it doesn't mean I stop celebrating Diwali.