25 years ago, Ekta Kapoor launched her first batch of K-serials, and soon enough, the popularity of shows like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, skyrocketed. Her saas-bahu serials became culture-defining over the next decade, so much so that they continue to influence the Indian television space. While the folks associated with these shows made massive profits from them, others saw them as regressive. Recently, producer Pahlaj Nihalani blamed Ekta Kapoor for ruining that idea of Indian culture.
In a chat shared on Learn From The Legend’s YouTube channel, Pahlaj said the Bollywood is “not making Hindi pictures for the masses anymore.” He said, “Shah Rukh Khan, who was known for romancing in films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, even he is holding a gun. That is working now.” He then continued to say that films like RRR and Kalki 2898 AD are inspired by Mahabharat and Ramayana, and implied that films presenting ancient Indian mythological texts were working for the masses. He said, “Films like RRR, they are fully based on Ramayana and Mahabharat, even in Kalki, the end was all about Mahabharat. People are taken in by Indian culture but we are force-feeding people that one woman can get married to three men…”
Pahlaj then proceeded to blame Ekta Kapoor for portraying the practice of polygamy in many of her shows, but insisted that it was only the women who were shown to be getting married multiple times. “Ekta Kapoor, the great… I mean men are not allowed to get married twice but she gets women married three times… Our culture has been ruined,” he said and added, “Earlier, erotic movies were made rarely, now there’s sex everywhere.”
In the same chat, Pahlaj also mentioned that until the early 2000s, none of the actors interfered with the casting process of the film but the first actor who put a condition with regard to this was Akshay Kumar. “Earlier, producers and directors used to cast and heroes wouldn’t interfere in casting. The first actor to interfere in casting with me was Akshay Kumar in Talash in 2002. He told me that ‘we can start the movie tomorrow, and you can give me any amount that you want, but the heroine of this film will be Kareena Kapoor.’ It was one of the most costly film of that time, it was made in Rs 22 crore. This was the first time in my career that an actor had demanded a certain cast,” he said.
Pahlaj has produced films like Andaz, Aankhen in the 1990s, and in the recent years, he produced Govinda-starrer Rangeela Raja and a sequel to Neha Dhupia-starrer Julie, albeit with a different cast. Pahlaj remains a controversial figure, for producing films with suggestive themes and his tenure as the CBFC chairperson.
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Previously, Varun Badola, in a chat with the YouTube channel Zindagi with Richa, was asked if Ekta was responsible for ‘ruining’ Indian television and he said, “More than spoiling the content on TV, Ekta Kapoor changed the face of Indian television, whether for the good or the bad. She went from strength to strength because the shows were earning money. In our industry, when corporates get involved, they don’t care about the art form; they just want to earn money. Once Ekta had said in an interview that if you want to make a show your way, put your own money and make it, and she wasn’t wrong. You have to deal with so much pressure otherwise.”
Actor Mukesh Khanna also criticised Ekta Kapoor, specifically for her show Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki, and shared with Siddharth Kannan, “If you look at the Pandavas and their costumes in Ekta Kapoor’s show, they were looking like models, exposing their bodies. Bheem wasn’t looking like Bheem, and neither was Arjun. If you look at five of them together, you won’t be able to recall who was who.”
