Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; October 30, 2014)

Ekta Kapoor went through a harrowing experience on Wednesday afternoon when she encountered a ‘stalker’ during a media interaction at Balaji House. She was talking about the integration of her reality game show, Box Cricket League with Kaun Banega Crorepati when she saw a middle-aged man clicking her photographs at a fervent pace.

An eyewitness says, “He was standing in a corner and clicking away her photos. Ekta screamed causing the man to panic. He dropped his identity card and mobile phone, and fled from the place. We found out that he was an imposter, posing as a scribe of a Bollywood trade paper. His phone contained several photographs of Ekta from various events.”

Shiv Kumar, an employee of the paper in question, says, “That man is abnormal and has been chasing Ekta Kapoor since a long time. The identity card that he carries to enter various film events and parties is fake. He has also been beaten up by security personnel earlier. I hope Ekta takes strict action against him.” Sources say the man, estimated to be in his mid 30s, was spotted outside Ekta’s house on Sunday. “He had been following her for some time. He is mostly seen outside her office and residence,” the source adds.

Ekta is learnt to have told her security personnel to keep an eye out for the man.

Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; October 13, 2014)

Box Cricket League, a celebrity tournament involving small screen actors, is all set to be aired on television.
Now the latest buzz is that producer Ekta Kapoor has decided to keep her flock together by ensuring that actors of her new shows actively participate in the eight- team contest. Sources say that she has, in fact, included this as an additional clause in their contracts.

The source says, “Ekta has recently launched a few shows and has introduced a new clause in the actors’ contracts, which states that all those who are part of her shows will have to be associated with the cricket league. So, if they are acting in her serials, they will, by default, go for the matches. Some of the newcomers have agreed and signed the contract.”

It is said that the actors will get paid for this commitment. However, this diktat has not gone down well with some of them, who believe that love for a particular sport should not be forced on them.

Tanuj Garg, CEO, Balaji Motion Pictures, says on behalf of Ekta Kapoor, “Box Cricket League is our first sports reality show, something we are extremely excited about and we would like for the talent we work with to be part of it.”

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; October 1, 2014)