MUMBAI: The undisputed Czarina of Content, Ekta Kapoor joins the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Steven Spielberg, Leonardo Di Caprio, Beyonce and Tim Cook among others on the fourth annual edition of Variety500 - an index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry.

Having practically invented the Indian soap opera, she redefined Indian television and is now shaking up the local streaming market with ALTBalaji.

This Padma Shri laureate spearheads the largest TV content producer in South Asia that churns out everything from soap operas, to reality shows and films.

Her ALTBalaji featured in the elite list of India's 100 Most Admired Brands 2020 and in the past one year alone was responsible for creating over 800 hours of TV. It was only fitting then that she joins some of the most influential names in the world, who’ve left both a creative and commercial imprint in the media industry.

An innovator and risk taker, Ekta Kapoor made the kind of moves that made the country sit up and take notice. It’s no surprise then that she was the only woman from the eight Indian names who made it to Variety500’s list.

The other influencers from India on the highly coveted list include Akshay Kumar, Mukesh Ambani, Aamir Khan, Ronnie Screwvala, Kishore Lulla, Sidharth Roy Kapur and Kalanithi Maran.

Recently listed among Fortune India’s 50 most powerful women in business, Ekta Kapoor is making her presence felt in the hugely competitive Indian OTT market, with her ALTBalaji platform boldly taking on the likes of international bigwigs.

Barely 4 years old in the streaming market, the platform is already a leader in the Hindi SVOD space, with a whopping line-up of 62 original shows.

The saying ‘Man with a Midas touch’ is passé as Ekta Kapoor reiterates that it is in fact a woman who seems to spin gold!