Contrary to popular belief, it's not just Ekta Kapoor who calls the shots at Balaji Telefilms. Oftentimes it is her trusted lieutenant, deputy creative director Nivedita Basu, who steps in, on Kapoor's behalf of course.
But her success at the reigning soap factory, has been the result of an arduous four-year journey."I sleep for just about 3 or 4 hours every day," she tells us.
She started her career in Balaji's non-fiction department, where she had joined as a trainee. "I was promoted to EP, then an associate creative, then a creative, and just recently the deputy creative director rather swiftly," she says.
"Time has just flown by and I think I still have lots to learn. Whatever I am today, I owe to Ekta," she says.
What gave Basu an edge over her contemporaries was her unfailing passion towards her profession, which included impressive traits like voicing her opinion, asking her seniors about various things and a burning desire to make it big.
In her new cabin on the fifth floor at Balaji House, Basu spoke to indiantelevision.com's Vickey Lalwani. Excerpts:
How does Balaji Telefilms function? Tell us the basic nitty-gritties Apart from being responsible for work on the sets, creative heads have to keep Ekta updated, but before that they have to sit with the writers. They have to co-ordinate with the channel and decide the cast. Associate creative heads are assigned tasks by the creative head, who in-turn gets their brief from Ekta. But that doesn't mean that there is no interaction with the head. Ekta is hands on with projects, all the associate creative heads have to sit with her and discuss finer nuances of the characters. But the physical execution is taken care by the associate. We have a meeting every alternate day. |
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But I remember that earlier one creative head handled more than one show? |
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Why? Ekta often comes up with brilliant ideas, but not all ideas are really translated onto the screen. On an average you can say that just about 80 per cent of ideas that she has visualised are expressed. When I joined, there were three to four creative heads. Now there are about 20. |
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And why was that? Even if you have many shows in the pipeline, you cannot let the old-timers like a Kahaani… or a Kasautii… take a beating. You have to constantly churn out awesome stuff for your older shows. Let me correct it, you have to constantly innovate especially for your older shows, because you have more at stake. |
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Lets rewind to your executive producer days… I used to get the script and make the schedule, inform the artistes, see that their work was happening (pauses). |
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Go on… |
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And you exercised your opinion? |
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The rest, as they say, is history? She is always bubbling with brand new ideas. Often I am brain dead. |
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Then what do you do? |
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Has Ekta ever told you that a particular portion, which you played around with, was not up to the mark? |
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How much of the story is ready when you go to the floors? |
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Is this a norm at all the production houses? We had some very bad shows two years ago, and hence we insist on taking it slow and weighing all the options. If a channel demands a particular show in 15 days, we ask for a month. We want to be sure that the screenplay writer knows where he is heading. If he doesn't, then it's like 'hawa mein teer maarna'. Did you know that I drafted 18 drafts for the upcoming MTV show? For obvious reasons, we can't afford to become soapy. Plus with so much work being done both in and outside Balaji, one cannot take the risk of including similar sub-plots in any two ventures. We all have to be original and fresh. |
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'Karma' has finally been launched, but why did it take so much time? We got experts who we can trust. But somehow things weren't too smooth in early days either. We made the pilot, then realised that something like this had been done before. Then we brought in a bit of romance, but soon realised that it wasn't fitting in either (shrugs). |
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How many of the famous Balaji characters can be attributed to you? |
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Have there been occasions where you thought that you don't agree with her? I have reached that stage where I can talk to her and express my gut feelings. Sometimes, while arguing, we even settle for a third alternative. I remember the time, in my early days, when people used to tell that such-and-such thing was tacky, but could never muster courage to forward it to her. I was scared. |
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How much does a channel's interference bother a creative person like you? |
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So, the channels know the story beforehand? For example Kasautii… had dipped marginally, so we had to take a quick decision. That's exactly how Anurag's death was designed. Serials may be a staple diet but if the staple diet is not tasty there won't be many takers. |
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Yes, 'Kasautii…' had gone down… |
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So, Anurag's death was a ploy to recover those eyeballs, which had shifted? |
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What is the general modus operandi on characters that are introduced midway? |
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Why are Balaji's characters, say an Urvashi Dholakia or a Sudha Chandran or many others in such a garish make up? KKR was always Shaina's story, but people say that they watched it because of Ramola. Without Shaina, we went on for quite some time in the recent past. But if Ramola was away for more than one episodes, we are flooded with calls and letters 'yeh kya dikha rahe ho?' Ramola has pulled out a gun for 50 times but every time, people said 'wow'. And mind you, she committed 47 murders in the show! Even on Sony's Ye Meri Life Hai, I have heard people talking a lot about Tanaaz Currim who again is a dolled-up character. I think I have answered your question (smiles). |
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Your talk about Ramola prompts this question. Why did 'KKR' go haywire? |
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In such a case where your characters are so strong, does it affect you guys when your leading ladies opt out, like some of them did in the recent past? |
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Do characters resist a change? Like you changed Aporna (Gitanjali Thakker) in 'Kasautii…' from a swan to a fox? |
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Like I believe Sujal (Rajeev Khandelwal) has reservations on certain scenes? |
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But when you enact the scenes, you leak out the story to these people? |
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What if they leak it out to the media? |
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Being so closely associated with the story and screenplay, ideas in general, how much of television do you see? |
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Do you change writers when things don't work? |
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'King Aasman Ka Raja' on Sony was a blunder. Agree? |
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It was surprising to see Kkusum's daughter having premarital sex? |
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With Balaji Telefilms expanding its repertoire into other genres besides soaps, what is the next line of action? |
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Shows which have impressed you recently? I enjoyed Kum Kum - Pyaara Sa Bandhan in the Chanda days, but then Aman Varma was brought into the picture and I couldn't even make out between the present and the flashback which scenes. I had skipped some episodes in between and Tusshar Kapoor who also loves to see television, updated me. I am not saying that the story telling was bad, but it was not interesting. |
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Your ascent must have made a lot of Balaji people green with envy? |
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So you will always be the second lead at the soap called Balaji? |
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Marriage? |