‘I’m biased towards women’ - ekta

It is difficult to spot Ektaa Kapoor in a crowd. In a simple salwar-kurta, the only thing striking about her is the red headband keeping her tresses under control as she walks down the lobby of the Oberoi Grand on Saturday night. It's only when you look at her hand that you know that here indeed is the Balaji queen. Five rings of different colours rooted to the fingers of the right hand. Pan left and you can see a series of threads and strings of beads lining her wrist — red, black, rudraksha… you name it and it's there.

But you ask the 30-year-old Mother of the Great Indian Soap Opera about her spirituality and all she says: "I believe in vibes." Vibes that lead to running a software empire which has fetched more TRPs in the last six years than the India-Pakistan ODIs in the same period. And till the other day, Ektaa was just another adolescent girl watching TV 24/7.

"I was, am and always will be a TV ka kira," she smiles. "I became a television producer because I just love watching TV. Even today, I keep watching it all day long. Among my shows, I watch Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahin to Hoga, Kasamh Se, Kya Hoga Nimmo Ka and Kasauti Zindagi Kay. Of the others, I watch Viraasat, Mamta and Tumhari Disha."

It was during watching one of the episodes of Tumhari Disha that Ektaa found her new prime-time girl Pallavi Subhash, Karam Apna Apna's Gauri. Just like she had found her Tulsi, her Parvati, her Prerna, her Bani, her Nimmo… "I don't know how I do it," she wonders with a child-like innocence. "I just look for a smile that will light up people's homes. I do not look for a sex bomb. She should just be able to warm up my heart."

But how come in the middle of the thousands of hours of software that she has produced, Ektaa Kapoor hasn't made a male-oriented story? "I strictly believe that women rule the remote control at home," she announces. "You can say I am totally biased towards women. I have tried but I just can't make a man's story. I cannot make a Prithviraj Chauhan. If I have to work on a male-dominated subject, I would rather make a film because that's what they want to see, more than television."

Films are one area where Ektaa wants to improve her record after disastrous debacles like Kuch To Hai, Krishna Cottage and Koi Aap Sa. "After Kya Kool Hai Hum, you can say, now I am happy," she says. "I have a whole lot of movies lined up. There's Kya Kool Part 2, a romantic comedy with Neeraj Vora (Phir Hera Pheri), a film with Rohit Shetty (Golmaal), one with Abbas Mustan and even one with Sudhir Mishra. I am also co-producing Apoorva Lakhia's Shootout At Lokhandwala with Sanjay Gupta's company."

But it is the small screen where Ektaa has complete creative control, though she adds that she had very little inputs in the Kamlesh Pandey-ideated Thodi Si Zameen Thoda Sa Aasman, her first co-production with friend and find Smriti Irani.

And just like the K-King of the big screen Karan Johar turned real with Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, the K-Queen of the small screen is turning real with her new show Karam Apna Apna. If many of her earlier serials had Bengali families looking very un-Bengali, this new Balaji production is actually being shot in Calcutta. "You can say there is a slant towards capturing an ambience," she says, not happy with the word "real". "See I am not here to make 'different' shows. Nobody really does. I will keep making serials where the common middle-class man can identify with the characters' problems."

So, Karam Apna Apna is "a Cinderella story going wrong". Explains Ektaa: "A famous saying goes, 'Everyone should dream because dreams come true but everyone should be careful to dream because dreams come true.' It's about this middle-class girl who is married into a big family and while that's what she wanted, she couldn't imagine the problems that come with such a wish fulfilment."

While she has made sure that her favourite Ma Durga is in the serial, Ektaa went to Kalighat on Sunday morning for a local round of divine intervention. She also promised to pick up sandesh from a sweet shop because that's one thing for which she "can give up anything".

Maybe not her vibes!

Her Faves

Favourite Maa/Saas — Parvati (Saakshi Tanwar)
Favourite Beti/Bahu — Bani (Prachi Desai)
Favourite Beta/Pati — Karan (Hiten Tejwani)