IIMA to study 'Ghajini’s' sustained memorability

Students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) seem to be particularly fond of the Aamir Khan film, ‘Ghajini’. Students of the institute’s elective course, ‘Contemporary film industry — a business perspective’, this year will be examining ‘Ghajini’ and other hits of Bollywood and South Indian cinema, as case studies to understand why some movies succeed. The elective course is scheduled to begin from December 23.

Incidentally, Khan and some other eminent Bollywood personalities had come to the institute last year as guest faculty for this course and given lectures on the functioning of the Indian film industry.

This year, too, some well-known Bollywood personalities will be coming to IIMA as guest faculty to lecture on Indian films as a business enterprise.

Course coordinator of the elective, Kandaswami Bharathan, who is himself a visiting faculty at the institute, said that, this year, they would be studying three super-hit Indian films in great detail to understand why they had succeeded. “Ghajini and Rajnikanth’s Muthu have already been identified for study,” he said. “Muthu was a phenomenal super-hit in Japan.”

Bharathan said different aspects of each film would be studied in detail. “Their marketing, advertising, and brand promotion, among others, would be examined to understand why they were so successful,” he said. “It will help us understand how best to project a film so that it stays in the minds of the audience, and creates a large customer base for it.”

This year the elective course will also focus on the new interest shown by financial institutions in investing in film industries. “Some films have been funded by financial institutions,” he said. “Such films will also be studied in the course.” The number of students choosing the elective this year has doubled —from 75 students last year to 155 this year. The course itself will start on December 23, but actors and directors will visit IIMA as faculty in January and February.

Khan is expected to visit the institute again this year. The institute is also thinking of inviting major stars of South Indian cinema. “We are talking to them and are trying to persuade at least four well-known actors and directors to visit the institute,” Bharathan said.