‘Of our population of 1.4 billion, 80 per cent are into doomscrolling.’
Key Points
- ‘There will always be something that will pull your attention from what you are doing every day to create a strong impact.’
- ‘The second screen is where the money will lie. The first screen can be anything — you watch a cooking show in Raebareli. That is never going to be content that you pay for.’
- ‘To commit to any kind of content takes a lot. But that also should become the creator’s biggest challenge and excitement.’
- ‘If you get someone to commit to your characters, you actually have broken the market. Once they commit to your characters, they stay with you forever.’
For more than 25 years, Balaji Telefilms, a firm that Ekta Kapoor cofounded and ran, has been synonymous with the growth of television in India.
Her contributions earned her an honorary International Emmy in 2023.
Last fortnight Kapoor, a Padma Shri award winner, announced her investment in Ekatra Jewellery.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar/Business Standard spoke to Kapoor on Zoom about the jewellery foray and Balaji.
Why jewellery and what is the nature of your relationship with Ekatra Jewels?
I am a minority investor in Ekatra with an option to increase my stake. I know the promoters. (Pavitra Gandhi, Sunny Sakariya and Kapoor are among the five cofounders of Ekatra.)
I don’t have any creative authority as far as fashion or jewellery goes. But they felt I had a certain authority when it came to saying that if the brand had a certain kind of equity and that I should put my name to it.
Usually I like to buy into a concept first. The product comes second, and next is how much investor sense it makes.
The concept is clear. We are no longer the girls from a time when jewellery was bought as investment by parents to be given to their daughters when they got married.
The same investment was given then to the inlaws to keep. The girl had no agency. Most women today are making their own money.
You are always stuck between the choice of ‘Should I invest my money safely or should I use my money to enjoy today?’
This concept of wearing your fashion and wearing your investment is, what I thought, a great idea.
It is gold which is lightweight (9 or 14 carat). Instead of 50 gm, a proper necklace can be made with 8 to 10 gm, thanks to technology. And the diamonds are lab-grown.
What is happening to the world that you have helped create in India — that of content production and stories?
It is democratising. Everyone is doing their own content creation. The distributor is using her or his agency and people are going directly, through different mediums, to the audience.
From reels to shorts to series and films, there is a deluge of content being served and consumed. This is leading to a neurological rewiring of audiences. How do you create stories for this new consumer?
Of our population of 1.4 billion, 80 per cent are into doomscrolling. If say 20 per cent are watching long format, that’s still a huge number.
The advantage of doomscrolling is you can get attention but you can’t make a business out of it.
A large number of people are creating short-format content. There will be even more — entry is easy. Businesses don’t work with such low entry barriers.
There will always be something that will pull your attention from what you are doing every day to create a strong impact.
But the second screen is where the money will lie. The first screen can be anything — you watch a cooking show in Raebareli. That is never going to be content that you pay for.
We live during times when we take a phase as everything. We are really into ‘short impact’ because we are a little commitment-phobic as a generation.
To commit to any kind of content takes a lot. But that also should become the creator’s biggest challenge and excitement.
If you get someone to commit to your characters, you actually have broken the market.
Once they commit to your characters, they stay with you forever. That is why IP (intellectual property) will become even more important.
If you have an IP that has worked, people may not come back to see 50 other things.
But they will come back to see those four characters that they committed to. Like Spiderman and Superman. In India, maybe Dhurandhar.
People will want to come back for IPs and for stories that break through the deluge. It’s a little more challenging but it pays off better eventually.
As a creator, how do you address that challenge?
We created hundreds of stories when there was not even access. Now there is access and therefore there is a lot more content. But with that, you have to be a better storyteller.
It doesn’t mean no one survives; it means the best survives. If you don’t want to take on the challenge, you should not be in the business.
Today I see how the Koreans are doing their content, and some of the stories they are coming up with are so good. Ditto for some Turkish shows. We just have to up our content.
Balaji Telefilms’ revenues have fallen from Rs 453 crore (FY25) to Rs 211 crore (FY26). What is the issue here?
I don’t want to comment on the numbers of the company. For that you must speak to the chief executive officer (Sanjay Dwivedi). We’ve had a great quarter this time.
Don’t comment on the numbers, but what are the challenges it is facing?
Balaji is currently looking at its best phase ever. We’ve just had a good release this year. (Bhooth Bangla grossed Rs 270 crore at the box office globally and is among the top movies of 2026 so far.)
While it continues its old format of business, Balaji will now own the IP. This is because when you build IPs, and if your IPs are successful, you end up across the media.
If you can build a multimedium IP, you actually don’t even know how far and how the new medium will support the older IPs.
It’s like music with new avenues coming in. YouTube has rejuvenated old IPs. Gaming will come and build IPs that you own in a way that you can’t even imagine.
There is a whole world out there waiting to open up.
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Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff