Fourth time lucky?
|
Soap queen Ekta Kapoor has at last found success in cinema, with her fourth film. Subhash K. Jha
|
TV TYCOON: Ekta Kapoor
"Sometimes I feel 60 years 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. I've no time for 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. Utterly into her world and yet able to see the lighter side of success ... even of the staggering variety that she has attained.
Film production
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 on 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 really 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 isn't giving up that genre. " 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 in collaboration with a TV channel."
A sequel
Tusshar gets to team up with Riteish again for a sequel. "I had to do it!" protests the TV-turned-film-magnate. "They were clamouring for it. And who am I to say no to success? 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, is doing. Ekta chuckles at the thought. "I guess a sequel is inevitable. Sangeeth Sivan will of course direct again. And let me assure you, this time the script will be absolutely 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 is so little originality left in our films. I think my soaps are more original than the films being made these days."
On soaps
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."
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.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
