It won't be wrong to say that Ekta Kapoor is a major source of inspiration to all the young girls in the country. The daughter of veteran superstar Jeetendra, the head honcho of Balaji Telefilms and Balaji Motion Pictures left no stone unturned to conquer the showbiz industry with her hard work. Now, as Ekta stands tall amongst the highly influential and respected women, she has her name written not just over the television industry but also made a mark in films with hits like Dream Girl to mention a few. It is no secret that Ekta began her journey as the maker of daily soaps like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, Kkusum, Kasautii Zindagii Kay and many others. These shows, although received mammoth success, became subject to criticism for their melodramatic and highly stylised content.
Talking about the same and giving a reality check, Ekta, in an interview with a leading daily, told that her soap operas gave the women in India a voice. She further went on to state that owing to them, women began taking family decisions by themselves which in certain households seemed impossible before. "They actually gave Indian women a voice. There’s research that shows that after cable penetration, from about 2001 to 2005, which is when my shows ran, India, for the first time, saw women take decisions on family issues. This had never happened before, and it was directly linked to the fact that we made the women in our shows do this,” Ekta told.
Ekta, who popularised saas-bahu shows and was identified as the maker of soaps beginning with the alphabet 'K', said that in one of her programs titled Kkusum, there was a song that pitched the idea of women being the bread-winner and a start to blurring the lines of patriarchy. She further added that the team wanted to normalise the thought that girls can support their parents financially. “There was a song in Kkusum, for instance, called Beti ke Roop Mein Beta Mila. In hindsight, the very idea that a bread-winning woman should be compared to a man reeks of patriarchy, but at that time, we were fighting a different war: We wanted to gain acceptance for the idea that it’s fine for girls to support their parents financially,” Ekta added.
Workwise, Ekta was recently conferred with the title of Padma Shri for her contribution over the years.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
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