IIM students peer into Bollywood business

Over the years, management students of the reputed IIMs have done case studies on corporate houses and social organizations, and given their suggestions for solving real-life managerial and administrative hurdles. Now, the students of IIM-Lucknow have turned their eyes to Bollywood, a flourishing multi-crore industry.

They have received an offer from Tarun Tripathi, head, marketing and external communication, Yash Raj Films, to undertake a live project to study the consumer behaviour pattern in the entertainment sector in Lucknow. The offer was made during his visit to the campus for an interactive session on the present-day media and entertainment sector.

Describing the film industry as a "high risk and high return" sunrise industry, Tripathi urged the students to opt for careers in Bollywood in streams like operations/systems, finance and banking. "If you have an idea that can kill, you can go places and get noticed," he said.

In fact, Tripathi was working as an intern with HLL when a chance meeting with Hrithik Roshan led him to give up a coveted job offer at Philips and join the Yash Raj banner.

Tirpathi went on to explain in detail what goes into the business of films these days like launch planning and life cycle management, and how the first four days of a film decides whether it's a hit or not.

If young and creative brains such as in IIM-L set their hearts to it, Bollywood would surely give Hollywood some competition. -(SAMPURN)