Ekta Kapoor: We tend to put women on a pedestal

File image of Ekta Kapoor. Image sourced from mid-day archives

Soap sultana and web content creator Ekta Kapoor says that the constant talk on feminism is putting women on a pedestal and setting unrealistic expectations. Her upcoming web series Mission Over Mars (M-O-M), which shows an incredible journey of four women, is an attempt to bend that norm, she adds.

"Nationalism and feminism are two topics of discussion in the current time, and with that we tend to put our women on the pedestal. We constantly make parameters like if you are a ‘good girl' you won't be drinking, smoking, will not be on dating apps, and not be an ambitious person, and will be good at balancing personal and professional life. All these are wrong!" she said, adding: "In ‘M-O-M', we are exploring different women who are on a common mission," Ekta told media during the trailer launch of the show on Friday night.

M-O-M features Sakshi Tanwar, Mona Singh, Nidhi Singh, Palomi Ghosh, Ashish Vidyarthi and Mohan Joshi among others. The show marks a double celebration for her because her OTT platform Alt Balaji has collaborated with another homegrown OTT platform, ZEE5.

The strategy of the collaboration is to use both platforms and offer subscribers the facility to watch content of one app on the other platform. So, while ALT Balaji's M-O-M will also be available on ZEE5, a new web series of the ZEE5 platform titled Coldd Lassi Aur Chicken Masala can be viewed on the Alt Balaji platform.

Sharing her excitement on the new business collaboration, Ekta said: "We at Balaji Telefilms have the longest relationship with ZEE, over the past 14 years on television, and we must not forget that we are living in an era of collaboration. If we really want to grow and reach out to a bigger audience, it makes sense to collaborate with the biggest brand."

While Ekta is happy with the new venture, Aparna Acharekar, programming head of ZEE5, said: "Both platforms (Alt Balaji and ZEE5) choose scripts sensibly and have good content library. So, letting viewers watch all the content across both the apps will surely expand the audience base ffor both platforms. As homegrown apps, we are looking forward to taking it to the next level"

The ZEE5 show "Coldd Lassi Aur Chicken Masala" is the story of two chefs, Nitya and Vikram, played by Divyanka Tripathi and Rajeev Khandelwal, and how their lives go through ups and downs.

Since the storyline of the web series ‘M-O-M' is loosely based on the true-life event of India's ‘Mangalyaan' launch, and Bollywood has just made a biggie, "Mission Mangal", on the subject, Ekta was asked if the repetition of theme would be a disadvantage.

"Such things have happened in the United States as well, where a film, a documentary and a show have been made on the same subject. People watch all of them. Secondly, in our show, we have fictionalised some characters and made them interesting. I strongly believe that the story of such an achievement should be watched by as many people as possible. So, people should watch it across all platforms, whether it is on TV, on an OTT platform or in the film," Ekta replied.

She added: "We started shooting from May, so no way could we have released the show before the film (which released on August 15). We planned to release the teaser on August 15, and we did that. One thing we wanted to do was to release the show on our platform before the film premiered on television."

"M-O-M" will start streaming from September 10 while "Coldd Lassi Aur Chicken Masala" drops on September 3.

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