'I am in love with Mr Bhansali'

By Subhash K Jha

Dreams are the stuff television tycoon Ekta Kapoor's career are made of. Now her 40-inch screen dreams are about to acquire a 70 mm vision.

Ekta Kapoor, for long besieged by space problems for her myriad serials currently being shot in studio complexes in Mumbai owned by Balajee Films, is now planning to build her own film city.

Says a source very close to the project, "Ekta has always felt bogged by the lack of physical and creative space. We at Balajee can never capture the mythical 'Magic Hour' from the movies in our serials because we've to ration our time on the roads and public places.

Ekta plans to build a whole studio complex, not unlike Nitin Desai's studio in Karjat, with inbuilt roads and lanes so that we get an epic feel into our soaps, and we can control the lighting.

If you see Raj Kapoor or Bhansali's films you can see the quality and texture of lighting is unique. Ekta wants that quality in her serials."

Ekta is planning to build her own film city on the outskirts of Mumbai near Thane. In fact the land purchase is almost complete.

Ekta chuckles at the dream project that waits realization early next year. "I'll say this much. I'm the greatest Sanjay Leela Bhansali fan in the universe. I've seen Devdas 3,000 times. It's the only DVD in my room.

I know every frame by heart. When I met him for the first time in Anil Kapoor's house I just grinned goofily. I'm in love with him. Mr Bhansali has re-defined screen opulence. Mr Bhansali jokes that every time he makes a serial he knows he's Ekta is going to copy it.

We've two new shows coming on Sony on November 19. And my crew jokes that after seeing Saawariya I'm going to change all the episodes after an urgent meeting in the middle of the night. I'm going to sit with pen and paper and take notes when I see Saawariya."

She adds, "Ever since I saw Devdas I wanted to create a similar aura in the studios. If I want to show Bikaner or New York in my serial I want to create them in a studio. That real feel can never be got outdoors.

So yes, I'm looking at creating that mythical 'Magic Hour' for my serials."