Posted:
| |
Ekta turns 60! | |
Says stress has separated her from her family and aged her | |
Subhash K Jha | |
Sometimes I feel like a 60-year-old," says TV tycoon Ekta Kapoor who turned 30 on June 7. "Between casting and scripting I had no time to take even the birthday calls, let alone celebrate. Sometimes when I look at my dad's worried face which has the 'Is lakdi ka kya hoga?' (What'll happen to this girl?) all over his face, I wonder if it's worth it. I've no time for the closest of friends, no time to develop relationships anywhere except in my soaps where, as you must have noticed, the family trees are getting really entangled." That's Ekta for you. Immersed in her world and yet able to see the lighter side of success… Finally a hit film! The one blind spot in her reputation as India's youngest female tycoon was film production. Kya Kool Hain Hum has taken care of that. "After three duds as a producer (Kyunkii Main Jhooth Nahin Bolta, Kuchh To Hai and Krishna Cottage) I finally have a hit in my hands, never mind a RAUNCHY hit, as I'm constantly reminded. I'm not ashamed or apologetic about Kya Kool…It was always meant to be a sex comedy. Audiences couldn't have gone to it thinking it was a mythological film." Now Ekta warms up to the topic. "And how come we giggle and chuckle at the off-colour humour in American Pie, but faint in horror at the same in a Hindi film?" Speaking of horror, Ekta hasn't given up on thE genre. "My mom looks at me with horror each time I mention making another horror film. But I love horror films. I love Ram Gopal Varma's cinema. That's what I'd like to make. But for now I've decided to make two films. Hope they won't be horrors, because they aren't meant to be. One will be a romantic comedy with my brother Tusshar and a new girl in the lead. We'll launch a nation-wide star hunt for the new girl." Lucky Tusshar? "Yeah I love my Tusky," Ekta gets as mushy just like as one of the ladies in her soap. "In fact I postponed my birthday party by a week for my brother who's out of the country…And by the way, I've thought of the ideal return gift for him…a sequel to Kya Kool Hain Hum! Tusshar and Riteish have become such a hit pair. They've been offered four films together." That's more than the hit pair of the season Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra are doing. Ekta chuckles at the thought. "I guess a sequel was inevitable. Sangeeth Sivan will of course direct again. And let me assure you, this time the script will be original." Yeah yeah, I've heard that one before. Kya Kool Hai Hum was ripped off from Robert Benigni's The Monster. "So you caught us out. What to do, Bhai? There's so little originality left in our films. I think my soaps are more original than the films these days." On her new soap Speaking of her soaps a new star has been born on one of them. "My new soap for Sony Kaisa Yeh Pyar Hai has given a new lease of life to Iqbal Khan. When he came to me he had already done a few feature films and was hesitant about doing a soap. There's now going to do a lineup of merchandise related to Iqbal's character Angad." The Lalu dolls better move over. "The dolls are drooling over Iqbal. I wish other actors too would stop looking at tv as a stepping stone to cinema," quips Ekta. | |
|
...And gags all her stars |
Will they shoo the press now? |
Compiled by Parag Maniar |
Television czarina Ekta Kapoor has put out a circular on the sets of her serials stipulating that no artiste should be allowed to give "unauthorised interviews" to the press without the knowledge of her public-relation agents. Television stars who don't work with Ekta say they'd feel stifled by the rule Ronit Roy (Mr Bajaj from Kasautii Zindagi Kay) Every company has their own policies to make. I do not want to comment on it. Amarr Upadhyay (fomer Mihir from Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi) I think Ekta is right when she says that artistes should not give interviews without her prior permission because it causes unnecessary rift between them. Nausheen Sardar Ali (former Kkusum) Artistes not being allowed to give interviews to the press without the knowledge of Ekta, I think it is a little too much. It is curbing an individual artiste's freedom. I can understand Ekta not wanting them to talk about her serials or aspects that she does not want the people to know. But she cannot stop them from giving interviews about their self. When I quit Kkusum, I was the first one to tell Ekta about it and she let me go. There wasn't any kind of bitterness. I think the problem in Balaji is not Ekta but the people around her. Hussain (Sumit from Kumkum) It is entirely Ekta's decision. But I would not want anybody to tell me whom I should speak to and whom I should not speak to. Yes, I can understand a production house wanting to be secretive about the story of the serial or a film. But we are mature adults. We know what we are doing. If the issue is sensitive or debatable, then both the concerned parties should mutually agree to a common decision before going to the press. Achint Kaur (Mandira from Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi) Is there such a circular put up on the sets? I'm not aware of it. |
TAKE CARE
ANOLI
XXX
Book Talk
Cricket
Anupamaa
Health and Fitness
