From winning her first National Award to bringing back Kyunkii, here’s how Ektaa Kapoor reinvented herself in 2025
Three decades into her career, Ektaa Kapoor is having the kind of year most industry veterans only dream of. She’s won her first National Award, revived two of her most iconic IPs, expanded into new languages, and built a slate that signals ambition rather than nostalgia. For someone who has dominated India’s storytelling landscape since the ‘90s, Ektaa’s current phase isn’t a victory lap, it’s a reinvention.
A Hat-trick for Ektaa Kapoor
After winning an International Emmy and receiving the Padma Shri in earlier years, 2025 completed a hat-trick for Ektaa Kapoor with her first National Award for Kathal. The award was announced on 1 August 2025, and she received it at the official ceremony held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, on 23 September 2025. For someone who has shaped Indian viewing habits for three decades, the honour felt both overdue and perfectly timed.
The Return of Kyunki
This year also saw the return of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, reintroduced in a refreshed chapter that tapped into the internet’s renewed appetite for nostalgia. It reminded audiences how deeply Ekta’s TV titles are embedded in popular culture.
Incredible Line-up Ahead
Instead of playing it safe in her 30th year, Ekta has moved into bigger territory. Her upcoming lineup has a mix of both commercial cinema and revival of cult IPs: Bhooth Bangla, directed by Priyadarshan and starring Akshay Kumar, Tabu and Paresh Rawal, is positioned as a major theatrical release. She’s also producing Vrusshabha, her first pan-India film with Mohanlal, slated for a November 2025 release, a surprising and ambitious expansion into the Malayalam space. Parallelly, her collaboration with TVF, one of India’s most credible youth-content creators, adds a new dimension to her slate and signals a deliberate move into younger, digital-first audiences.
Simultaneously, she revived Ragini MMS, one of her strongest genre properties. The reboot, currently in development, has already made noise with Tamannaah Bhatia taking the lead. The project hasn’t been released yet, but the casting and timing have pushed Ragini back into the cultural conversation without a single frame on screen.
A Global Step: The Netflix Partnership
The formal creative partnership between Balaji and Netflix India earlier this year is another clear indicator of where Ekta is headed. The deal spans films and series, placing her inside a global content pipeline at a time when streaming is shaping mainstream viewing.
Many producers who started in the ’90s have stepped back or slowed down. Ekta hasn’t. Whether it’s reviving IP, launching new films, expanding into new industries or landing on global platforms, she remains active at scale, and very much in the conversation.