Ekta Kapoor on women empowerment: Daily soaps created industry by, for and about ladies

Daily soap queen Ekta Kapoor, who had given the Indian television a new definition with her family dramas, asserted that TV industry has played a crucial role in women empowerment in India as compared to the Bollywood movies. The diva stated that daily soaps have created an industry that is by, for and about the women.

"TV has done way more for women empowerment than any film has. It has created an industry that is by, for and about women. It has put female characters in front. You cannot have a problem if the antagonist and protagonist is a woman," Ekta told PTI.

Ekta Kapoor has been the name behind several popular serials like 'Hum Paanch' which was about five oddball sisters taking up challenges and emerging victorious, then the legendary 'Kyunki Saar Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi', 'Kasauti Zindagi Kii', 'Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki' and much more.

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Each show showed woman taking hard decisions for the betterment of their families, be it about dealing with marital rape, cancer, financial crisis and more, women, instead of just being a submissive member of the family, have been seen standing strong for the family

"Marital rape, domestic violence, cancer awareness, older people getting jobs, everything has been dealt with on TV first. Tulsi (the popular character from Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi) shot her son for marital rape, we might've done a dramatic spin-off to get attention of people but we put a point out there.

"If you're missing the point, and going after the presentation...Women wearing over the top makeup then you're actually the myopic one," she adds.

Ekta says through her TV shows she has raised several socially relevant topics but people have overlooked them.

"The myopicness is in their mindset. Not once has anyone mentioned that India has done a transgender show on TV and brought issue on a large scale. Its not my show but its admirable. If you want to have a factual argument, come and talk to me and you will lose," she says.

Ekta says nitpicking on "presentation" of women while missing the core point of a show is problematic and is nonchalant about certain section of the audience who find her content regressive.

"Thats only the intelligentsia, the masses put them down very nicely," Ekta says about the criticism.

The film-TV producer says the "intellectuals" are quick to label anything commercial as nonsense and laud an off-beat project.

"Anything accepted by the masses has to be bad. They (intellectuals) sit there and have problem with anything which works. Because it works, its entertaining, it cannot be good," she says.

The 41-year-old producer has forayed into the online streaming service ALT Balaji, which has diverse contents ranging from a recreated version of "Devdas" with a central female character to a gay love story.

Ekta says, apart from the high of delving into a limited-episode format, telling the stories which otherwise would be difficult to present on TV was "liberating." 

(With PTI Inputs)