Ekta
Kapoor rounds off 'Asiaweek's' Power 50 list
(Posted on 11 June 2001, 8:00 pm)
Balaji Telefilms' creative director Ekta Kapoor is in the
news again, and how. Indian television wonderkid's hold on the
popular pulse has been acknowledged by Asiaweek in its
latest Power 50 list for 2001.
The Asiaweek survey on the region’s most influential communicators,
technologists, artists, entrepreneurs and politicians, is all
praise for the young TV serial producer, saying: "Since producing
her first blockbuster television programme at 19, Ekta Kapoor
has rewritten the script on TV entertainment for the masses. She
has created more than 20 soaps on 10 major Indian networks; a
comedy series she created ran for five years. The Indian showbiz
community watches her every move, and older, more experienced
producers are quick to copy any new Kapoor concept.
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As creative director of Balaji Telefilms in Mumbai, Kapoor,
25, continues to produce absorbing dramas - whether about
an ambitious tycoon or a beautiful but scheming wife or a
70-year-old grandmother looking for a job - that consistently
strike a chord with viewers across the subcontinent. Kapoor
now hopes to find similar success with audiences in a different
medium: the big screen." |
Being listed is the icing on the cake, literally speaking,
for Kapoor, as it was only on Saturday that her staff threw a
big birthday party for the soap specialist.
Other notable Indian names from the ICE world (information, communication,
entertainment) on the list are Infosys chairman NR Narayanamurthy,
who has has improved his ranking to 27 from 40 last year and editor
of the "news and views" portal tehelka.com, Tarun Tejpal, ranked
48 because of his "expose" against government and military officials
for allegedly accepting bribes.
A Malaysian of Indian origin T Ananda Krishnan, 63, who aims to
become Southeast Asia's answer to Rupert Murdoch is ranked 29.
"Having made his fortune from property, gaming and oil trading,
Krishnan's MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems offers high-quality
alternatives to stodgy government programmes over 24 television
and eight radio channels. His multiplex cinemas bring the latest
movies to Malaysians. Ananda also plans to offer TV services featuring
Web-based interactivity. The ethnic Tamil tycoon may be known
as a recluse, but that has not stopped him from touching people's
lives every day." Asiaweek says.
Talking of Murdoch, while he is not on the list son James Murdoch
has been ranked 43. Installed as CEO last year Murdoch's primary
task is to work towards making the Southeast Asian operations
of Star (mainland China in particular) profitable. Star's India
operations are its only profit-making venture at the moment and
the younger Murdoch's task is to change that.
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