Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Kyunki Junta Bhi Pagal hai…

Over years, audiences have gotten used to Ekta Kapoor hyping and promoting her otherwise un-‘kCharismatic’ brother Tushar Kapoor and her other serials/movies through her tele-tortures.

But yesterday, I got the shock of my life… when in one of her serials on Star Plus, the whole Virani family was shown blatantly promoting “Karyasiddhi Graha Shanti Dhoop”. I didn’t notice the promo till they focussed on the packing which carried Ekta Kapoor’s picture on it. What got my goat was the shameless promotion done in the soap. It seemed like a paid advertisement instead of soap… I for a while thought it was a joke or a spoof, till my wife (who happens to be the know all of tube-world and soaps… and the reason I have to watch this stuff) confirmed that it was indeed a product Ekta had launched in the market.

I am still amused as to why a media house like Balaji Telefilms would diversify into manufacturing ‘dhoop’ and incense sticks – maybe coz it didn’t make sense to make toiletries like toothpaste and shampoo, given their portfolio of soaps sucks… and coz they have 300+ year old brand ambassadors like Baa’ to cash in on.

I was left wondering if people will actually buy this product…imagine buying Graha Shanti Dhoop from Ekta Kapoor – to get the kind peace Aggrawal’s, Bajaj’s, Basu’s, Virani’s etc have in her stories. Damn!!! I would believe this dhoop if anything is a curse – to never-ending family feuds, conspiring relatives, multiple failed marriages, women with multiple husbands, men with multiple affairs and marriages, illegitimate children and what not.

Do you want such ‘Graha shanti’ in your home…? At least I don’t want the kahani of ‘Kahani Ghar Ghar ki’ to be the kahani of my ghar…

Yeah yeah… I know the co-relation is illogical. After-all, using Anchor toothpaste doesn’t mean your teeth get electrified. Huh… but Ekta Kapoor Dhoop… still makes me laugh.

This thread reminds me of another news item from last month which referred to a survey revealing “that jawans posted to remote locations around the country love watching saas-bahu serials to de-stress in hostile terrains. Do you know how it de-stresses them? Well, simple. They figure out that they could in far more stressful situations back at home than dealing with the terrorists here, just if the “kahani of their homes were to be just a shade of kahanis of Ekta’s homes”

1 comment:

heenad said...

HAHAHAHAAHAH. the note on the jawans made me crack up. These soaps are so ridiculously unreal.But pple still watch it. I really cant understand, why. Maybe coz theres not much else to watch on TV. I had recently read somewhere that pple revere the Tulsi character of Kyunki Saas bahu facme, that they expect their own daughter in laws to behave in such a fashion. I cant watch any of those episodes without my BP going high. Recent interview I saw of Ektas shes like she caters to the middle class people. I seriously doubt the middle class people have these kind of problems. Perhaps the jawan logic can be applied to the reason why they would watch it too. =) The only soap worth watching on Star plus is Ba bahoo aur baby.

However I still think Ekta is smart, if you feed someone something enough they evenutally will start to crave it. And I think its become her brand now so shes branching out when the going is good. Agei kisnei dekha hai. And I wont be surprised if it turns out to be the highest selling product among women.

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