The digital age did not begin with a gentle wave of connection; for many high-profile figures in the Indian entertainment industry, it arrived as a torrential downpour of vitriol. Long before the polished PR machines and curated Instagram feeds of today, the internet was a wild, lawless frontier—a place where anonymity served as a shield for the cruelest impulses. Few know this better than Ekta Kapoor, the powerhouse producer who redefined Indian television, and who recently pulled back the curtain on the formative, and frankly bizarre, early days of social media.
In a candid, wide-ranging conversation with Ranveer Allahbadia, Kapoor revisited her maiden voyage into the world of social networking via Orkut. It was an era when the platform was the digital equivalent of a town square—and for Kapoor, it was a town square where she was arguably the most hated resident.
The Orkut Chronicles: Being Hated Alongside Aishwarya Rai
When an associate first suggested she join Orkut, Kapoor had little inkling of what she was walking into. She was a woman who had mastered the art of the TRP, turning domestic dramas into national obsessions, but she was entirely unprepared for the visceral, unfiltered hostility of the internet comment section. Upon logging in, she discovered that she shared a dubious distinction with the biggest star in the country: she and Aishwarya Rai were the subjects of the platform’s most popular “hate groups.”
One might expect a producer of her stature to retreat into a shell of legal threats or private grievances. Instead, Kapoor found the entire situation hilariously absurd. She described finding a digital caricature of herself depicted with a mustache and a large pimple, seated on a donkey—a visual so cartoonishly mean-spirited that it bypassed offense and landed squarely in the realm of comedy. Her reaction was pure Ekta: she saw the company she was keeping, noted the irony, and leaned in.
“I was like, ‘I’m in august company. Aishwarya Rai is great company to be with,’” she recounted. She even left a comment on the group, famously writing, “Hate me or love me, you can’t ignore me.” It was a masterclass in reclaiming the narrative, proving that the woman behind Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi understood the currency of attention better than her detractors ever would.
The Tika and the Tantrum: Navigating Religious Judgment
The conversation with Allahbadia pivoted from the digital past to the very personal present, specifically regarding Kapoor’s visible religious identity. For years, Kapoor has been a familiar face in the industry—often seen wearing a tika or other traditional religious markers. Yet, for this simple act of personal expression, she has faced a consistent undercurrent of judgment.
Kapoor shared a jarring memory from her younger years, when an acquaintance confronted her for her appearance. “Why are you dressed like a freak?” they asked, referring to her religious accessories. It is a striking indictment of a certain brand of urban elitism that treats faith-based symbols with a mix of confusion and thinly veiled contempt.
For Kapoor, the confusion was mutual. “Wearing a tika and a dhaaga is dressing like a freak, my darling?” she asked rhetorically. The stigma extends beyond just fashion; it reaches into the lifestyle choices of those who practice their faith openly. She recounted being mocked for heading to a club immediately after visiting a temple—an interaction that captures the exact brand of cynicism she has fought for decades. To the critics, the two worlds were mutually exclusive; to Kapoor, the temple is a place of manifestation, and the club is simply life.
Confronting the Elephant in the Room: Hinduphobia
Beyond personal insults, Kapoor’s discourse touched on a broader, more structural issue: the systemic resistance to Indian folklore and mythology in contemporary storytelling. She didn’t mince her words, labeling this cultural friction as “Hinduphobia.”
Kapoor pointed out a double standard that is hard to ignore. We, as a society, readily embrace global fantasy epics—dragons, wizards, and Norse gods are all perfectly palatable in modern cinema. Yet, when Indian filmmakers attempt to plumb the depths of our own massive, ancient, and rich repository of mythology, it is often met with skepticism or outright derision.
“We’re okay with animation, but we’re not okay with discussing folklore and mythology,” she noted. Her latest project, The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest, is her latest attempt to push this narrative forward. By leaning into these stories, she is challenging the industry to overcome its internal bias and recognize that our own heritage is a fountain of untapped, powerful cinematic potential.
Embracing the ‘TV Serial’ Label
If there is one thing Ekta Kapoor knows, it is that the “intellectual” elite of the film industry often look down their noses at the “staple food” of Indian television. When early reactions to the visuals of The Vvaan suggested it looked “like a TV serial,” critics likely intended it as a slur. Kapoor, however, took it as a badge of honor.
“Television is the staple food of India,” she asserted, refusing to apologize for the medium that made her a household name. There is a quiet defiance in her stance. By refusing to distance herself from the “serial” aesthetic, she validates the millions of viewers who consume her content daily. She understands that while the critics chase prestige, she is chasing the heartbeat of a nation.
In looking back at her journey—from being mocked on an archaic social media platform to challenging the elite consensus on religion and cinema—Kapoor remains a singular, polarizing, and deeply influential force. She is no longer just the woman who changed television; she is the woman who survived the early toxicity of the internet, kept her tika on, and is now actively demanding that Indian stories be told with the same respect afforded to the rest of the world. And if her track record is any indication, she isn’t just going to be ignored, she is going to be seen.
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