soap queen EKTA all over da world

Ekta Kapoor's soaps have now moved to Dubai.

Making Ekta's new brain-wave relatively easy was the fact that her super-popular Gujarati culture-specific soaps like "Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" are easily translatable into a Muslim ambience.

Reveals Ekta:

"Whether it's a Gujarati business family or a Muslim business family, the themes are interchangeable. But the characters and their names, clothes and environment are variable."

Think of how popular these Gulf-produced serials would be when my "Kyunkis" and "Kasautis" are so popular in Pakistan and the Gulf countries.

"By making Muslim socials I'll have the entire Indian, Pakistani and Middle East population watching my soaps. We hope to have 2-3 soaps on air in 2008 from our Gulf office,"

"It's a new and bold step for us. I love challenges. What's life without them"?

Shah Rukh or Salman may perform at Ekta Kapoor's show

Ekta Kapoor's television awards event, to be held in December in the United Arab Emirates, is getting bigger by the day. The latest buzz is that either Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan may perform at the function.

What's more, either Gautami Gadgil of Tulsi fame or Sakshi Talwar, better known as Parvati, will also be on stage at the Balaji Global Indian TV Honours 2007.

"Right from the start Ekta was sure of one thing - that her television awards show should be as big as the film awards," .

"For that she has been working towards getting the biggest of Bollywood stars to perform at the show. However, there's only one pre-condition, each of these Bollywood icons has to be in some way associated with television."

So is it going to be Shah Rukh or Salman for the main performance?

"We're currently in negotiations with Shah Rukh and are hopeful that he'll agree. He's a source of inspiration not only in cinema but also on television. If you recall, he started his career on television with 'Fauji' and recently made a spectacular impact with 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'. So it would be wonderful to have him perform," says Khanna.

Ekta added: "When I decided to have the awards I wanted television to get the recognition it deserves. Today I feel apart from a few filmmakers, television is able to deliver more glamour, grandeur and density than the average 'multiplex' film. The home medium has certainly come a long way. And that's what we'll be celebrating at our awards."

Ekta's buddy and filmmaker Karan Johar will be felicitated at the awards and he will also host a segment of the awards.

It's Turkey calling for Ekta Kapoor

Soap queen Ekta Kapoor has left for Turkey after she was invited by the Turkish government to shoot two of her primetime serials "Kasauti Zindagi Kay" and "Kkasam Se" in the country.

And she's now all set to blend long outdoor schedules with a personal vacation too. Ekta and her friends, including numerologist Sunita Kapoor, left for thepopular tourist destination Friday. While she will relax a bit, the units of two of her serials will slog it out in different locations there.

"Turkey is quite a hot spot for Indian tourists. And their government felt that there was no better way to promote Turkish tourism in India than by asking us to shoot our serials there. The schedule will continue right till the last week of the month,"

"It'll give me a chance to take a break. Of course, the work comes first."

"But I'll just let the units be while me and my friends will chill out. I'll return after about a week and let the units continue on their own."

In fact, Ronit Roy, who stars in both the serials, said no to a role in Meghna Gulzar's next film because of the Turkey schedule.

Ekta plans to economise on the shooting by transporting the cast of the two soaps concurrently.

"After one unit is done with the shooting of a soap, the actors from that soap will fly back to Mumbai and the actors from the other soap will fly in,"

I won't cut down on STAR content: Ekta Kapoor

TV soap queen Ekta Kapoor intends to go on working with STAR Entertainment India even though the channel's former CEO Sameer Nair has moved to NDTV, carrying with him a lot of the creative team members.

"My relationship with STAR is very strong. However, my rapport with them is purely of a content provider. I work on a few basic preconditions. My work has to get its creative freedom and my software has to be rewarded well in terms of pay and audience. If STAR continues to fulfil these preconditions, I'll definitely continue to work with them,"

"As for the other channels, including NDTV, I'm definitely open to working with them. So, no, I won't be cutting down on the content for STAR. I'll just be working more to give software to the other channels."

Does that mean more working hours?

Laughed Ekta: "You'll be surprised to know this. But I've started going out with my friends almost every night. I recently reconnected with my old school friends. After years and years they are back in my life. Some of them are mothers, others are just married, or about to getting married."

Ekta Kapoor, Suniel Shetty tie up for film

After tying up with filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, TV czarina Ekta Kapoor is going into another major movie merger - with actor-producer Suniel Shetty.

Shetty's Popcorn Entertainment is in for a partnership with C Company - the film branch of Ekta's company - for a production that takes Apoorva Lakhia through his toughest film after "Shootout At Lokhandwala".

Suniel says,

"Ekta's Balajee and my Popcorn Entertainment have been in talks for a while. When I heard Apu's script I knew this was the right moment to concretise our collaboration."

"Hopefully Ekta and I will be looking at many more collaborations. Both of us are dreamers who aren't in this business to make money but because we believe in it."

Suniel has three productions lined up for the next one year.

"The first will be a gritty realistic film directed by Joy Augustine. After that, there's Vikram Singh's 'Raaste' with Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Aishwarya Bachchan and Sikandar, followed by Apoorva's film."

wowwww guys ekta iz trying her best after having so many problems and i think there r not so much fans of her but i know so much people thd hates her😆well,i dont know wat is true or false but her soaps r spreading all over da world and now she iz trying 2 move towards muslim world...well,all da best ekta😉