Over the last quarter of a century, Ektaa Kapoor has established herself as a name to be reckoned with in Indian entertainment. In a journey that has spanned from TV to films and eventually OTT, she has been everywhere. The year 2025 marks three decades since Ektaa entered the entertainment industry, and it is no exaggeration to say she helped shape the way Indian television functioned in the first two decades of the 21st century. She has had armies of fans, many critics and even a few detractors. But Ektaa has soldiered on.
Television was the more sedate medium in the 1990s. Barring Tara, Ajnabee, and the twin successes—Shanti and Swabhimaan—it was all very low on drama and family-friendly. Even as Ektaa made her bones with Mano Ya Na Mano and Hum Paanch, it was Ghar Ek Mandir and Kora Kaagaz that turned the tide for her. Ektaa realised that the melodrama-craving masses of India were missing that on the idiot box.
The K-drama era and establishing a template
Many have remarked how the proliferation of daily soaps – India’s K-dramas – by Ektaa saw a surge in regressive and absurd storylines, sometimes reminiscent of the zany plotlines of General Hospital and other such soaps. But the absurdity is what kept Indian TV afloat. In the golden days of Indian soaps, top shows touched TRPs of 20 and above, a number unattainable today. Even the likes of Bigg Boss and Indian Idol can’t touch half of that in 2025. Such was the permeation of Ekta’s soaps.
She created the template upon which the Indian soap structure was built, and she also created stars—from the OG TV stars Smriti Irani, Sakshi Tanwar, and Ronit Roy to the next generation, including Mouni Roy, Sushant Singh Rajput, and many more. A large chunk of Indian TV shows today follow the format Ektaa created and successfully tested two decades ago.
How Ektaa helped women become TV’s biggest stars
But perhaps the biggest achievement she had was turning primetime TV into a women-first platform. Female stars became the faces of the shows. It had been done in Shanti and Tara earlier but only sporadically. With the Tulsis, Kusums, and Prernas, she made household names out of the TV heroines. Pretty soon, ‘actresses’ were the highest-paid stars on television, a trend that still exists today.
But what about the regressive content?
But Ektaa’s TV reign was not without fault. The first criticism is the presence of formula over quality. TV soaps have hardly grown in their content in the last two decades, and most still follow the formula created by Balaji. Anything new doesn’t work and goes off the air. But honestly, isn’t that an indictment of the audiences, too? Even in an era where choices are not limited, the K-drama formula still works best. But what is truly troubling in those shows is the presence of misogyny and superstitions. Women were front and centre but hardly had agency. With Naagin, she unleashed the bizarre world of supernatural soaps on Indian audiences, too. And we are still reeling (it still remains the most watched show) from it.
But the regression Ektaa’s most popular shows perpetuated was something she acknowledged, too. During a Hindustan Times interview, Ekta was asked if she had made a show and later wondered, “Who watches this?” The producer said in the 2019 interview, “I have.” Asked if she would like to name the show,” Ektaa added laughing, “There are many. I am like ‘What did I have?’”
How Ektaa shook up the OTT world
Over the years, through the diversification of Balaji Telefilms, Ektaa has entered other mediums too. And in each, she attempted to breach a new genre. It was sex comedies in films with Kya Kool Hain Hum, pulp fiction on OTT with AltBalaji, and even sleazy horror in both with the Raagini MMS franchise. All that had been bubbling on the fringes, relegated as ‘B-grade’ for decades, Ektaa brought into the mainstream with smart packaging. Whether it deserved to be in the mainstream is another question. I will never dwell on the moral implications of the content she produced on streaming, but from a sheer aesthetic perspective, a lot of it was rushed. Yet, it hastened the rise of tier-2 OTT platforms, which became a phenomenon upon themselves in the years to come.
In thirty years, she has built the template for TV soaps, championed some clutter-breaking films, and created a whole new sub-niche of streaming shows. All these points have their critics and fans, and yet Ektaa Kapoor continues like she always has. The woman who got Kangana Ranaut to OTT probably has a few aces left up her sleeve still. Chances are, the next 30 years will be just as entertaining even if controversial. Not that she should mind!
