I have never taken my audience for granted: Ekta Kapoor

She is often criticised for the kind of content she presents on TV but producer Ekta Kapoor has said that she has never underestimated her audience.

Ekta first tasted success with "Hum Paanch" before venturing into what was later dubbed as "the saas-bahu" dramas. Despite their melodramatic plots and twists, the soaps continue to be popular.

Her choice as a film producer, however, is bold and edgy so is the content on her recently launched app, ALTBalaji.

"I have never taken my audience for granted. It has been the DNA of our company since forever. We always try and work hard and then leave it up to them to accept it. If we did not try hard enough, it feels bad," Ekta told reporters here.

The producer was in the capital for the launch of her upcoming show "Kundali Bhagya" yesterday.

The show is a spin-off of Zee TV's popular daily soap "Kumkum Bhagya".

Ekta said she felt the need to make a spin-off of the Sriti Jha-Shabbir Ahluwalia-starrer as she wanted to bring back the basic simplicity of the show on TV.

"'Kumkum...' has moved ahead in the story. It is already an established show and it is at a different tangent. But missed the initial innocence of 'Kumkum'..."

As a producer, who popularised time leaps on Indian TV, Ekta said she drew inspiration for a spin-off from Shonda Rhimes' superhit drama "Grey's Anatomy".

"How I'll get or manage to maintain the same ratings as the older show, I seriously don't know. All I know is I'm going to write the story with the same intent I wrote the older one. The same heart and soul. Whether these four characters are able to achieve the same love or not - it's a hope."

The show, which stars Dheeraj Dhoopar, Shraddha Arya, Anjum Fakih and Manit Joura, premiers on the channel on weekdays from July 12 at 9.30 PM.

-PTI