Mumbai masala for Ekta Kapoor

Ekta Kapoor has transformed herself from the maker of regressive soap operas to a big-screen producer exploring bolder themes mostly set in the city she has grown up in. With a series of movies right from Shootout at Lokhandwala, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, Shor in the City to Shootout at Wadala, Mumbai continues to feature as the backdrop of her films.

And her obsession with the city of dreams continues with the sequel of Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai to be released next year.

“I can never get bored of the city. Even when I was in Paris for three days, I wanted to come back as I was missing the buzz here,” says Ekta who will soon adapt filmmaker-turned-author Piyush Jha’s debut novel Mumbaistan for the big-screen.

Explaining why the city continues to be her muse, she says, “Mumbai has so many infinite shades to explore, right from glamorous to dark. It is like looking at the prism from different angles and I would like to explore all of it.”

Commenting on why crime thrillers have been the major focus of Mumbai-centric films, Ekta gushes, “It is a wonderful place for stories to play out realised and unrealised dreams. Of human passions to unravel and at times, crime remains the only outlet and reaction.”

But she is also a tad tired of Mumbai being associated with gangsters and the underworld and the filmmaker in her hankers to explore newer realities. “Nowadays, crime has entered the lives of the middle-class and there are new complexities involved. Even a common man with unshakable faith is forced to resort to crime due to pressing circumstances. I will continue to explore newer twists about the city I love in my future films,” she adds with a confident smile.