Course co-ordinator is in talks with a faculty of Harvard Business School to use
practices of Hollywood for Management Education.
The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-As) course
on Contemporary Film Industry - A Business Perspective is all set to go global.
The course co-ordinator is in talks with a faculty of Harvard Business School to
use practices of Hollywood for management education.
The course lacked global perspective, says Kandaswamy Bharathan, visiting faculty
at IIM-A who designed the course. The idea is to understand global aspects of the
film industry and get more insights into Hollywoods best practices, which can be
taught to students here, he says.
To begin with, Post Graduate Programme (PGP) students at IIM-A will take up a case
study on The Bucket List, the Hollywood comedy-drama starring Jack Nicholson and
Morgan Freeman, from the new academic year.The students will be expected to look
at the production excellence and the emotional connect in the movie.
The institute will use cross - sectoral learnings that Harvard has taken from Hollywood.
The IIM-A and Harvard collaboration may result in combined case studies on Hollywood
and Bollywood movies, with the aim of promoting how MBA methodologies and strategies
of the film industry can be helpful for each other.
A film is made with 200 people and a particular budget in a short span of 15-20
months. If a management student wants to set up a Rs 50-crore factory within a short
span of time, he can take lessons from the film industry through this course, says
Bharathan.
The course has become popular on campus with a 300 per cent rise in enrolment
since its launch in December 2008.In a batch of about 200, at least 15 students
express interest in taking up projects in the film industry every year at the end
of the course. The course has also attracted recruitment interest from prominent
companies in the industry like UTV Pictures, Reliance Big, and Mumbai Mantra among
others. The course aims at fostering creative thinking among students. The Bucket
List has been executed in an emotional way with two terminally ill men, who share
a hospital room, defining a list of things to do before they die. The film carries
a socio-cultural message to sensitise the audience. It is not just about business
value but shows societal value too, says Bharathan, also the producer of hit films
like Roja.
Courtesy: Times of India
