/> March 26 is a day of reckoning for Ekta's multi-tasking production company. It's by no coincidence the only evening without the World Cup matches in March.

On that evening Ekta slaps on a 3-tiered soap-scoop merging three of her popular soaps Kayamath, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi into one ....this, to counter the supposed competition from another channel.

If Zee thought putting on the three-pronged bahu-saga Teen Bahuraniyan,produced by Paresh Rawal, from March 26 was a befitting retort to Ekta Kapoor and Balajee's dominance then they hadn't reckoned with Ekta's competitive ingenuity.

Laughs Ekta, "This is the mother –merger among soap operas. We've 80 actors for the 90-minute special. We've done up three sets with the same look for three different shootings. Five directors will shoot over five days, twenty-four hours, for three units. All the creative heads have been assigned a job each. Six editing rooms at Balajee are ready to edit the material round-the-clock."

The entire Balajee office wears an ultra-festive look. It's as though they'e just discovered the cure for a very rare virus.

Says Ekta, "Yeah, there's a keeda in all of us at Balajee to excel. My creative heads like Nivedita Basu are burning the midnight oil for this merger-special. Our company has been split into five different functional departments to cope with the 90-minute special. We wanted to show Star that we can give them the mother of all soap operas. We want to do an episode that will be remembered for at least a year."

Just what Zee intends to do about this sudden revenue on their new soap -shopping plans is unclear.

But one thing is for certain. Ekta Kapoor remains the queen of competitive creativity.