Film industry needs better management, says this Bengaluru lad

Bengaluru: Post-Covid the film industry is waking up to a new reality. "If our films have to be a success, we better manage the film industry right from the basics" is the buzzword that is going around in the film cities of India. A Bengaluru based film executive Ashwin has set the ball rolling on how to use professional management touch in the film industry. To arrive at that scenario, he has opted out of the lucrative job he had with a film distribution company and headed straight to management school that will sharpen his managerial skills.

Several Indian Institutes of Management including, Calcutta, Kozhikode and Indore have accepted him for their MBA courses and a few foreign B schools as well. One of the management gurus in IIM Kozhikode said, "this is the first time when an impetus has come from an aspirant to choose film line after he completed his degree in IIM, film line is one thing so far has not been touched by the Management professionals or vice versa, I clearly see a new beginning"

'I may be a pioneer but more will follow in the future because the film industry has enormous scope for better management, they will see light in the fields of film and entertainment. The glitz and glam of the film industry have sparked new ways of thinking among young professionals. It has also sparked a new trend among film and entertainment graduates to pursue business degrees at prestigious universities like the Indian Institutes of Management or even in the foreign B Schools' Ashwin says.

Even in the film line, producers, exhibitors and distributors feel the need of professional management traits in the field. "Especially in a very competitive field of filmmaking. I for one think that every film producing company must get managers who are trained at top B Schools and at the institutes like the IIMs in India. The graduates from these institutes surely can add value to the thought process that goes into filmmaking right front of the choice of the storyline, casting, production, distribution and exhibition. At present, there is definitely a lacuna in this process. Weak storylines, inappropriate casting, loose ends in production and wrong timing of release are some of the things that contribute to the losses suffered by the filmmaker" say top minds in the film world in South India.

"I felt it myself after working in Bengaluru's NM entertainment film distributing company. But sometime in March 2021, I got a feeling that the process could use a managerial touch and it could prove to be a better career option for me as well as the film industry. It was difficult to shift gears after years of relying solely on the right brain to become analytical and critical. It was tough to concentrate on my studies.

However, I was able to overcome it and was contacted by IIM Indore, Kozhikode, Bangalore, Lucknow, and Calcutta for interviews, which worked wonders for me. The minds working in these IIMs also felt the same and found that it was a new avenue for Managerial studies" Ashwin said.

"The cinema was dominated by digitisation during this period. When dealing with OTT possibilities, greater professionalism is now required in the digital domain as well. I want to become a senior manager at these huge studios by using my distribution knowledge and dealing with very difficult and unpredictable situations. For starters I got a role model in Kriti Sanon a talented actress and model who wrote GMAT. She might have had her reasons to rejoin the film industry" Ashwin told The Hans India.