Worlds apart: Unlike her party, women in Ekta Kapoor’s soaps follow a sari code

Mumbai, Sept. 28: No one came topless, no one bottomless, no one in bikinis, no one stripped...

So what did people do at Ekta Kapoor’s infamous party? Just what’s this song and dance all about?

No doubt telly’s K-queen had fixed the theme of her Kahiin Toh Hoga anniversary party as “Dare to bare”, but the farthest her cast and crew went was to turn up in shorts and backless dresses in a metro where skin show is passe on the party circuit.

Not to mention that Ekta’s prize for the most under-dressed person went to the ageing Deepak Parasher, who turned up in bronzed torso, streaked hair, tiny black shorts and a chest-baring sleeveless black jacket.

So what was so wild about it?

It wasn’t a mujra party, where someone did an Umrao Jaan or where satiated men flung wads of rupees at dancers in exchange for sexual titillation.

It wasn’t a rocking sex party, the kind that happens behind closed doors on the fashion circuit and sends sexual temperatures skyrocketing.

It wasn’t a gay party held hush-hush in rich and famous homes or at Voodoos, the south Mumbai nightclub that is always bursting at the seams.

It wasn’t a gigolo party thrown by a moneyed and bored housewife, for which ads come out fairly frequently in Mumbai newspapers.

Nor were there strippers, who are not uncommon at stag parties, or belly-dancers and pole dancers to get the party animals drooling.

“It is not as if anyone came topless or bottomless at Ekta’s party. What’s the song and dance about?” asked TV anchor and actor Pooja Bedi, who is also a party regular.

“Law has its own place but obscenity is a matter of perception. Besides, nobody did drugs or booze or anything illegal, so where’s the problem?”

Pooja said moral policing at private parties made no sense. “I mean, it’s nobody’s business what happens at private parties held in a private place. We are not under any kind of Taliban regime. We seem to forget this is a democracy.”

Mini Mathur, another TV anchor, echoed Pooja.

“I have nothing against Ekta’s theme for the party. It’s her private party, and if she decides to have fun, what’s the harm?”

An actor working in Ekta’s serials said it was amazing such a fuss was being kicked up. “Regulars on the Page 3 circuit are sneering at Ekta’s tame party as it did not live up to expectations.”

Fashion designer Rohit Verma said people had their own ideas of fun and needed their space. “Why get petty over such issues?”