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.

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.

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.

The market has been awash with the canard that with the arrival of the AIADMK in the corridors of power in Tamil Nadu, Sun TV is wilting. Rumours that the Sun Network has slashed its rates fearing rivalry from the Jayalalitha-backed Jaya TV, have been doing the rounds of ad agencies.In fact, even indiantelevision.com inadvertently fell prey to one such rumour and was led to believe that the network was doing away with its categories and clubbing all its spot sales under one general category with spots being priced at Rs 10,000 for 10 seconds.

But that is totally untrue and the facts are that Sun TV is going strong. And it fears no competition from any rivals, be they Jaya TV or any other channels, says its vice-president (programmes) Hansraj Saxena. He adds that Sun TV is run as a professional organisation; there is no issue of politics.

"We have done best when the AIADMK has been occupying the hot seat. We launched in 1992 at a time when it was in power," says Saxena.

According to the new Sun TV rate card, the categories of Super Double A Plus, Super A Plus, A+ and A continue and there has been no drop in ad rates.

In fact, analysts expect the Sun Network to notch up an even better showing this year as the channels within the group gain from strength to strength with viewers hooking on more. Projections are that the Sun Network as a whole will chalk up revenues of close to RS 300 plus crore in the coming year. The Sun will surely continue to shine.