by Subhash K Jha

Ekta Kapoor speaks on her awards plans, to merge Cinema & Television in the awards.

What makes your awards different from the other tv awards?
First of all it won't be patronized by Balajee artistes alone. I've personally called up all the other tv production houses. My dad has called up the channel heads.

We want the the television and film industry to come there on Feb 1 in full force.I wanted the credibility level to be high. And we've worked to ensure that.

Beyond that how different these awards will be from other functions, remains to be seen. We can only pray there'll be no mess-ups on stage. Planning is just part of the process.

How's your pal Karan Johar participating?
I'm honouring him (chuckles). I'm going to enter the stage after the top tv stars perform. Then I'll do a rapidfire question –and –answer with him. I'll have the questions ready. But he won't know them.

He should be caught unawares. He's too cute. Actually I was to enter for Karan with a jig. I refused. Sorry I can't dance even for my show.

How will you ensure that cynics don't accuse you of giving away the awards to all your Balajee soaps?
Sajid Khan asked me this. I told him it isn't my awards function. It's Balajee's function. Irrespective of whether Balajee wins or not I'll be sitting in a corner and clapping for all the winners and hoping the awards go to non-Balajee shows.

But how can Balajee soaps not win when they occupy a majority of primetime?
Well, you are right. We do forty percent of the soaps and dramas. But what about comedy, reality, anchoring...In drama too there's lots of competition from other production houses.

This is the best year for to start our awards function. Three years ago we had hardly any competition. Today luckily we 'll get a run for our money.

We have a jury and an evaluation system where we don't even know the nomination process let alone the decisions. This is the best time to start our awards.

Are you going to honour the stalwarts?
Well we want Mr Kundan Shah to be there. He's one of the founding fathers of fiction on Indian television. I still remember as a kid sitting with my bag of chips watching shows like Nukkad, Fauji and Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi.

I wonder what happened to shows like that!I wanted to have an awards function that honours the minds behind such serials.

Are you excited?
I've butterflies in my stomach. It's my first time. We've always made sure Balajee stands for quality and commerce. That goes for the awards function. Everyone should see our transparency and honesty.

For us it's a matter of prestige and credibility to be honest. I don't know how happening the function will be. But we want to be called honest.

What plans for the awards in future years?
From next year it won't be just a television awards. We're bringing cinema and tv together. And we'll give awards to people from cinema and television....anyone who deserves it. Aap aao ya nahin aao aapki marzi.