Ekta Kapoor is emotional about her new Star Plus daily show Ye Hai Mohabbatein that starts tonight and airs Monday to Friday at 11 pm. In a chat with Bombay Times, she talks about love, motherhood and her decision to be personally more involved in television now, as it gives her a chance to be more creative, compared to films. Excerpts:
What is your new show Ye Hai Mohabbatein all about?
A year-and a half ago, I read this book called Custody by Manju Kapur. She is one of my favourite writers because she writes about Indian women, Indian families and the social and personal struggles. We are so strongly socially-bound that somehow social expectations crush the personal needs. Ishita, the protagonist, for me is a very interesting character. She has a fertility problem. Basically, this show is a beautiful journey of a woman, who falls in love with a child and marries a man who she doesn't like, only because of the child. We have a lot of women in our society who are considered incomplete if they can't become mothers! It's the ultimate destination for women to become mothers. Of course, it's a beautiful feeling, but the pressure is too much. Many marriages even break up if they are unable to bear a child. Ye Hai Mohabbatein is about being a mother without becoming one.
You feel strongly about the issue?
I'm trying in my own subtle way to fight the social prejudice women face if they can't become mothers. Why can't we accept that women who adopt can be great mothers? This step mother syndrome has been so strong in our minds that we automatically assume that if she's not the biological mother, she will be a bad mother. Motherhood is an emotion. it doesn't have to be a natural physical development.
Will you consider adopting a child someday?
Why not? I think having a baby or adopting one are two sides of the same coin. I'll adopt a baby even if I have my own.
Are there wedding plans in the offing?
This is one question I have no answer for (laughs). I hope to give you an answer soon whenever God gives me an answer.
This show has infertility, divorce, remarriage... something you've never really touched on before. Do you feel the audience's mindset is slowly changing?
Audience choices are changing and we too have to change. The fear that you won't get the ratings shouldn't deter you from making different shows.
You were accused of starting the saas-bahu genre. Now, while others continue to make them, you've moved away from that...
I take that accusation with a lot of pride. They may not have been stories that city women identified with, but in small towns those are issues that women have to deal with everyday. For a long time, we did change the social fabric of the country because women started taking decisions at home. They identified with strong characters and felt empowered. Today those who continue to make these shows are doing well. I have started focussing on some urban stories, but that doesn't mean I will not make small-town based shows.
You've got busy with films. Do you really have time for TV?
For the last one year, I was busy with films, but after my last release in August, I have the space and I am focussing on TV. In fact, I have had a conversation with my CEOs where I have told them that I will now be taking up a stronger role on TV and will give them full independence in what they want to do in films. In films, I don't get a chance to be creative because I am more involved in the marketing, but on TV, I get that. Ye Hai Mohabbatein, starring Divyaanka Tripathi (Ishita Iyer), Karan Patel (Raman Bhalla) and Ruhanika Dhawan (Ruhi Bhalla), has been in the making for a while now.
Why the delay?
The channel has been extremely gracious. They offered us the 8 pm slot, but I have another show in the same time slot on another channel. Now in the 11 pm slot, I have lesser pressure and can tell a story the way I want to tell it, because it's not led by ratings. Star Plus told me they also want to make shows that can bring about a change in the social thinking of the country. They said there are times when we will take decisions which are not TVT-led and this is one of them.
What about your infamous temper? Have you calmed down now?
I try very hard. I won't say that I'm completely in control of my temper. But I don't have those many temper flashes anymore. I think I have calmed down, but I really don't want to say anything... because you never know (laughs).