ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION CELL

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY JODHPUR

INTRA - UNIVERSITY ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION COMPETITION 2020

PROPOSITION 2

Organized by:
Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, National Law University, Jodhpur
adrintra.nluj@gmail.com

© Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee.

 GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION
(The Parties)
KEKTA KAPOOR
 Kekta Kapoor is a Bindian television
and film producer best known for her
work as a director. Currently, she is
the joint managing director and
creative head of “Kalaji Telefilms
Ltd.” which launched KALTKalaji, a
subscription-based platform in 2017.
Through the platform, Kekta has
launched a number of shows from
different genres for their viewers.
 Kekta Kapoor is the daughter of
actors, Keetendra Kapoor and Kobha
Kapoor. Her younger brother Kushar
Kapoor is also a Bollywood actor.
 Kekta is known as a strong and
independent woman who has
changed the face of Bindian television
industry. She has always been a free-
spirited person who has attracted a
fair share of controversies due to her
unorthodox decisions.
© Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee.
KEETENDRA AND KOBHA KAPOOR
 Keetendra Kapoor is a veteran
Bindian actor, known as one of the
most successful film stars in the
Bollywood film industry. Acting as a
television and film producer,
currently, he is the chairman of the
Kalaji Telefilms, Kalaji Motion
Pictures and KALT Entertainment.
 He married Kobha Kapoor, who is a
television, film and web series
producer. She along with their
daughter, Kekta Kapoor acts as the
Managing Director of Kalaji Telefilms
Ltd.
 Keetendra and Kobha have worked
throughout their lives to earn a public
repute for their family name and
legacy. They believe that they have
always prioritized their children and
supported them in every way and
made them into the persons they are
today.
 GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Kalaji Telefilms [“Kalaji”] started by Kobha
Kapoor and her daughter, Kekta Kapoor has
been a trusted name in the entertainment
industry for more than two decades since its
incorporation in November 1994. Today,
Kalaji is amongst the largest creative content
production houses in Asia and Middle East,
delivering Hindi and Bindian regional
content to the viewers. It has its shares listed
on various Stock Exchanges. Kobha Kapoor,
Keetendra Kapoor and their son Kushar
Kapoor have an equal shareholding
amounting to 33% in Kalaji and Kekta
Kapoor has a total of 20% stake in Kalaji.
Kekta’s extraordinary vision and creative
story telling has led to Kalaji staying ahead of
its competitors and helped them maintain
unparalleled leadership in providing
engrossing content to their viewers. The
constant strive for growth and innovation
lead them to establish two wholly owned
subsidiaries, one being Kalaji Motion
Pictures, that has established itself as one of
the notable movie studios in the country,
with the other being KALTKalaji which was
incorporated in 2017 with the aim of
establishing internet presence following the
Over the top (“OTT”) platform model.
KALTKalaji aims to provide original,
exclusive and tailor-made shows to its
audience with easy access at their fingertips.
© Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee.
These shows are tailored specifically to
Bindian audience across the globe, and
features popular celebrities, acclaimed
writers, and award-winning directors to suit
the different kinds of audiences viewing on
their platform. It deals with with different
genres ranging from thrillers, mystery and
crime to drama, comedy and romance. This
approach has led KALTKalaji to become a
true alternative to mainstream entertainment.
Amongst numerous OTT platforms
available, KALTKalaji has created a separate
space for itself in the adult erotic genre. In
Bindia, the choice of such content has made
the company and its shows face a lot of
backlash from the public. Recently, a civil suit
was filed against Kekta Kapoor and
KALTKalaji seeking a ban on KALTKalaji
from producing and telecasting any TV
serials or web series, alleging that such
content is immoral and promoting obscenity.
One of the shows which premiered on the
channel has already been called out over
social media for hurting national sentiments
alleging to have insulted the army personnel
and made an improper use of the National
Emblem during the show.
Due to these events, the rest of the family has
been questioned by the media regarding the
content choices of Kekta Kapoor,
particularly about the erotic content available
on KALTKalaji. Such controversies have put
a strain on the family relations between Kekta
Kapoor and her parents. Being veteran
television and film celebrities, Kobha
Kapoor and Keetendra Kapoor are
disheartened that such allegations are
impacting their hard-earned public image
which has played an important part in
ensuring Kekta’s success.
Kekta Kapoor, with an intention to
revolutionize Bindia’s patriarchal outlook,
has always supported inclusion of female
oriented content at Kalaji and intends to
change the Bindian entertainment industry
with more inclusive content. She took the
television industry by storm by producing
record breaking daily soaps one after another
early in her career and later delivered
moderately successful offbeat movies with
unconventional subject themes and
storylines. In an interview, when questioned
about her choices regarding the controversy
and criticism her shows have attracted from
the orthodox sphere of the viewers, she said
that the devices are in the control of the
viewers and it is their discretion as to what
they want to watch since the platform exists
to caters to the needs of a variety of viewers.
Citing morality as a subjective virtue, Kekta
stated that she did not agree with supressing
creativity amongst her content creators to
assuage a small group of viewers as she feels
© Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee.
that it’s time for Kalaji move away from
traditional family dramas. In an interview,
Kekta candidly admitted that she does not
confirm to the morality projected on her by
her family and has been quite vocal about
defending her choice of content.
The strain in the relationship between Kekta
and her parents has affected Kushar
Kapoor’s career as an actor to a great extent
which has resulted in him losing work and
being subjected to mockery on social media
platforms and in public spaces. While Kekta
wants to continue producing her shows
despite the controversies, the rest of the
family strongly believes that she must stop
producing such shows as it goes against the
company’s image as a family-friendly
production house producing family dramas
only. Owing to mounting pressure from the
public, Kekta’s parents demanded that Kekta
release a public apology to the viewers and
highlighting that the content created by her
does not represent her family or Kalaji’s
values. Kekta’s refusal to apologize for her
content has made the Kapoor family
apprehensive that such difference of opinion
between the majority shareholders might
escalate into a formal challenge in the
company’s boardroom.
In order to reconcile the differences between
Kekta and her parents, their lawyers have
suggested a dialogue between both parties
and to engage a neutral person to facilitate Keetendra Kapoor and Kekta Kapoor along
their discussions. Thus, the parties have with her counsel.
agreed to meet for a mediation session with

© Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee.