Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji traverses borders

MUMBAI: After gaining popularity with the saas-bahu sagas in India, Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms is now trying to spill the magic in neighboring countries. To begin with, the production house is launching an Urdu language television show titled Khwahish in order to woo the audiences in Middle East and Pakistan.

Speaking about the need to add more muscle to its programming and business strategy, Kapoor says, “We plan to diversify our programming at Balaji Telefilms. Not only is TV our focus, we are also looking at film production in an active way in the near future. Though, I haven’t tasted much success with films so far, but the result of my last venture, Shootout at Lokhandwala, has been a great encouragement.”

When queried as to whether Balaji had plans of launching its own television channel, she says, “Well, at the moment we can’t think about launching a channel because it requires lot of research and planning. But, we have discussed the idea many times and will venture into it at the right time.”

Balaji Telefilms is also investing heavily in the Bhojpuri film market. In fact, Balaji is currently making the Bhojpuri version of the all time classic film Sholay. Throwing more light on that, Kapoor adds, “Making more films for the Bhojpuri audience is something we are undertaking currently and we are also planning to launch more projects in the near future. Since, Bhojpuri boom is on the fag end, we are waiting for the opportune moment before going ahead with the next announcement.”

Ask her what’s the biggest challenge Balaji is facing today, the czarina of soaps is quick to add, “I think we have one of the most challenging jobs to handle, which is to keep the audience interested. Since we are working within set parameters, it is really difficult to keep innovating constantly. But, at the same time the challenge keeps you motivated and interested.”