Ekta Kapoor Birthday: A Pioneer in Breaking The Hindi Cinema Taboos With LSD 2, Romil & Jugal, Crew and More

Ekta Kapoor Birthday: The Tzarina of Indian television, Ekta Kapoor has earned the title rightly so with her massive dominance on the Indian TV. She has expanded her foray from TV to films to OTT like a real boss. Numbers and popularity are indeed her strengths, what makes her the unwavering figure in the Hindi TV and film space is her courageous and pioneering steps in the industry. She has been pioneering in giving space to the issues and realities that are often brushed under the carpet in Indian society. Her projects have been revolutionizing, revolting and outrightly rebellious.   

A Pioneer of Queer Representation 

With her OTT venture, AltBalaji Ekta Kapoor found the opportunity to take up issues and topics that were otherwise taboo on Hindi TV and could not be permitted to go on air. In 2017, the platform came up with ‘Romil & Jugal’- a first of its kind cinematic adaptation of Shakespearen classic Romeo and Juliete with a queer twist. The show was a tragic romance between a young gay couple, Romil and Jugal struggling to express themselves in a space of homophobia and orthodoxy. Their silver lining in their dark cloud is their love and togetherness. 

 

 

 

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Since then, Ekta Kapoor has been loud and proud of the queer shows made under her production further underscoring the significance. In one of her tweets she reiterated as “That’s how marginalized and lowly represented stories of the LGBT community are. Acceptance for all kinds of love and ALTernate storytelling is what we, at ALTBalaji wish to showcase with our stories! ” ‘The Married Woman’ and ‘Hiss Story’ have been other queer titles produced under Ekta Kapoor.   

A Girl’s Girl 

Women have found representation in resonating characters fleshed out by Kapoor on her shows and movies. With ‘The Dirty Picture’ in 2011, Kapoor brought the story of the “sex symbol” of south-Indian cinema on screen with mainstream leads including Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi and Naseerudin Shah. 

 

 

 

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Over the blanket of oversexualised women in cinema and their subsequent objectification, she gave space to her perspective as a young ambitious woman compelled with no other choice. From her initial TV shows to films like Pagglait- a movie about a woman unable to grieve for a husband she barely knows. Looked at as weird and unacceptable, the movie again delves into the psyche of the woman.

 

 

 

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‘Crew’ produced by Ekta became historic with its highest opening day grosser for any Hindi film ever.

Showcasing ill-side of digital world with LDS2 

More recently, the producer took up an exciting challenge by bringing the dark side of technology, alternative reality and its intersection with challenges of queer and teen identity. The movie is still running successfully in theaters and is also the first mainstream Bollywood movie with a trans woman in a lead role. 

 

 

 

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Be it the portrayal of same-sex relations in pioneering show of AltBalaji, ‘Romil and Jugal’ of the TV series representing the love story of two matured age people in ‘Bade Acche Lagte Hai’ she has taken risk, and emerged out of it with flying colors.