Ekta Kapoor was ‘prepared’ for JLF protests

"It wasn’t the most ­pleasant thing to happen but thankfully the lit fest guys and the police ­handled the whole ­situation well. Apparently, they were aware and ­prepared, so I wasn’t ­worried. I ­continued with my speech," says the producer.

Ekta Kapoor creates drama on the big and small screen, and this time, her own life, too, turned quite dramatic. At the Jaipur Literature Festival, she had gone to talk about television, film, literature and nature of narratives, on January 21, when she faced ­protests from the Rajput Karni Sena. Reason — the Sena believes that

Author-Siddharth-Shanghvi-and-film-TV-producer-Ekta-Kapoor-at-the-Jaipur-Literature-Festival-Kapoor-s-session-at-JLF-was-interrupted-by-protestors-shouting-slogans-against-her-for-portraying-Rajputs-in-a-bad-light-in-her-soap-Jodha-Akbar-

Ekta’s new show, Jodha Akbhar, has mangled historical facts and disgraced the Rajput name.

The 38-year-old ­producer, however, remained composed and resumed her talk ­immediately.

“It wasn’t the most ­pleasant thing to happen but thankfully the lit fest guys and the police ­handled the whole ­situation well. Apparently, they were aware and ­prepared, so I wasn’t ­worried. I ­continued with my speech. It was a packed house and though they tried to create an issue, there wasn’t anything the cops couldn’t handle.”

Visitors and onlookers, though, stood startled at the bottle-hurling and ­slogan shouting. ­“Some people in the ­audience and on the dais were taken aback and a bit shocked. The procession came very close to the stage but there was no problem and it didn’t become a big issue,” says Ekta, who had to cancel a press conference schedule to be held later in the day.