Ekta Kapoor dying a slow death

Her exclusive contract with Star Plus has ended and the longest running soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi is soon to go off air. The share prices of Balaji Teleflims is drastically dropping at the stock market and the audience seems to have enough of the K series. In short the Indian television Czarina Ekta Kapoor is at the lowest point in her career and dying a slow death.

There was a time not too long ago when whatever she touched turned into gold. Television stars did not dare to have eye contact with Ekta. She was turning stars out or ordinary actors overnight and was achieving success with any and every star. The popularity of her shows were so high that Star Plus signed an contract with her whereby Balaji Teleflims would produce content exclusively for their channel.

All that is now gone and Ekta Kapoor's brand value has sharply declined it the market. First Star scrapped the exclusive content deal and sold back their shares in Balaji Teleflims and then decided to take Kyunki off air after eight long years. Her shows no longer rule the prime time spot and youngsters are not crazy about working with her.

The reason behind Ekta's decline has been her inability to change with time. She was ruling the TRPs with her never ending family dramas like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, Kasautii Zindagii Kay and Kasamh Se but these conclusion less plots made sure that audience got bored with them after a certain time. Shows like Kyunki ran for so long that certain characters had to be enacted by as many as three stars.

To put it into perspective when Ekta began with her K series there were 3 GEC (General Entertainment Channel) in 2000 where as the number stands at 12 today. With so much of choice available on the press of a button people are not interested in watching the same genre for years. New channel likes Colors with modern programming concept signalled the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

The advent of the reality shows in a way signalled the end of family oriented drama especially the saas bahu saga. The audience was mesmerised by the concept of ordinary participants become superstars overnight and started preferring such show over the extra zoomed and the fast panned shots in the soap operas. The short duration of reality shows meant that following them was easier that Ekta's decade long dramas.

In the end Ekta Kapoor turned out to be a very good producer but a bad visionary. She did not keep changing her content with the changing times and the Indian television audience movie ahead of her. If only she had realised saas bahu saga cannot entertainment audience for ever. Ekta seems to have already finished with her best innings and is dying a slow death.