Ekta Kapoor and I go back a long way, almost to the time when she began her career. She was a firebrand even as a child. Once when a female fan was getting too friendly with her father the actor Jeetendra, little Ekta ran after the fan with her shoes.
Among the young achievers of the last millennium Ekta Kapoor not only set new standards for female entrepreneurship in India, she also re-wrote several rules of home-viewing entertainment in India. Although her father Jeetendra was a major star Ekta was never tempted to become an actress. But she wanted to become a journalist during her childhood. Television wasn’t a conscious decision. When Ekta was 17, she suddenly realized she was doing nothing with her life.
Then Ekta’s father met Ketan Somaiya in London. He owned a TV channel called TV Asia. He suggested that Jeetendra make software for his channel. When Jeetendra returned to India, he suggested that Ekta make the software for Somaiya. Ekta made some pilots. But the deal with Ketan Somaiya fell through when his channel was sold to Zee. Ekta recalled herself as “a spoilt fat kid with several pilots made with my father’s money, and with nothing to do.” At this point Ekta began to believe she was good for nothing. She told me felt terrible about squandering my dad’s hard-earned money.
After all her initial efforts fell through Ekta made the pilot of Hum Paanch with the little money she had. When Ekta went with her mother to one channel, they offered her 10,000 rupees for Hum Paanch, saying it was enough for a girl. But it wasn’t enough for Ekta. Then on her way back, she just dropped in to give the pilot tape of Hum Paanch to Zee. And they accepted it. Ekta has come a long way since her Hum Paanch days. I no longer know her the way I did back then when she was warm approachable and respectful. She is now fortified against all human contact by a secretariat of PR persons, marketing minions, co-producers and team players who buffer and deflect her life away from any genuine human contact. Her time is consumed in plotting new shows, the more shocking the better. For me she will always be the exuberant entrepreneur and the warm person she is.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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