If you lived in Calcutta 40 years ago, there were a lot of things you could learn by going to the movies. There was Minerva hall, famous for its rats. That’s the place where jholawala Bengalis, who swore by chappals and chanted “Amar nam, tomar nam, Vietnam, Vietnam”, had to convert to shoes. There was another hall – now history — where the water used to come in at high tide. Shoes didn’t help; you just lifted your feet on the seat when the manager sounded a warning. This may have been one of the earliest examples of consumer alerts in India.

At Tiger, if you had the bottom, you could watch A Bug’s Life (pardon the anachronism) on the screen while the real-life bugs conducted their business in the seat cushions. You emerged with butt bloodied but unbowed. This was a crucible for innovative ideas, long before the incubators at the IITs.

Goodknight Mohan sat through The Blue Lagoon (He went for the cinematography, of course, not a 15-year-old Brooke Shields) and came up with his mosquito and insect repellent.

If Calcutta’s movie halls have contributed to management thinking and product ideas, Tollywood has not been so inspirational. Yes, Icche (2011; Sohini Sengupta) has been part of a case study at Calcutta University's Centre for Women's Studies. But that is about it.

Hindi movies on the other hand, have been going places. Lagaan (2001; Aamir Khan) was probably made for B-schools. Its focus on teambuilding and leadership are, however, too much in your face.

For a case study, a movie must leave some scope for interpretation and discussion. Lagaan is great entertainment, but there is no message beyond the obvious.

Not deterred, Professor Biswajeet Pattanayak, then with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore, introduced Lagaan as part of the course in 2001. He has held Lagaan workshops on leadership and teambuilding. He has now moved on to leading his own team as director of the Asian School of Business Management.

At IIM Ahmadabad, one of the electives is “Contemporary film industry: a business perspective”. It started in 2008-09 with 75 students; the number has more than doubled now. This, of course, is more feet-on-the-ground.

But IIMA has also tied up with Harvard Business School to study movies such as The Bucket List (2007; Jack Nicholson).

Swades (2004; Shah Rukh Khan) is a case study at the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Its subject is community mobilisation and social entrepreneurship. Other movies studied are Chak De! India (2007; Shah Rukh Khan) and Manthan (1976; Smita Patil). Chak De! is also going strong at the SP Jain Institute of Management. This case focuses on leadership.

Telugu movie Ashta Chamma (2008; Swati Reddy) has been a case study at the Indian School of Business (ISB). But that is really about the making of the movie – a low-budget success. ISB professor of finance Rajesh Chakrabarti describes it as a balance between cost and risk assessment.

The most concerted effort could well be at the ICFAI (Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India) Business School (IBS). It has a full-fledged Case Development Centre which has built up close to 3,000 case studies so far. Movie-based cases form a subset.

“Continuing with its tradition of augmenting the product base for MBA classrooms, IBSCDC has developed movie-based case studies. These case studies, based on Hollywood blockbusters, can be used very effectively in regular MBA programmes, executive MBA programmes and executive development programmes,” says IBS. Hollywood has, of course, lent itself to western B-schools (see box).

Is this just a gimmick? Even if it is, it works. Most people like watching movies; they like talking about them. If you can steer the discussion to issues like leadership, it is probably more useful than textbook or classroom learning.

You get to watch the movies besides, without having to face the bites of the Tiger.

FILM APPRECIATION

Some Hollywood movies that have been used as case studies

The Lion King (1994; Disney)

Tuck School of Business

Leadership skills

Wall Street (1987; Michael Douglas)

Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University and Radford University

Corporate governance

12 Angry Men (1957; Henry Fonda)

Harvard Business School

Conflict Management and Group Dynamics

Dead Poets Society (1989; Robin Williams)

University of Toronto

Challenging orthodoxy

Source: www.headhonchos.com; other websites