Heart-warming Hindi films for MBAs

Movies not just entertain us, but also give us valuable suggestions. Every movie is story of a normal person who goes through a lot of struggle to finally become the hero. Here are few movies from our own Bollywood that can teach us some important MBA lessons.

Iqbal (2005) is a movie about a deaf and dumb boy from a remote Indian village who aims to be an Indian cricket player. The movie portrays his difficulties and shows how he becomes a cricketer and fulfills his dream of playing for India.

Learnings: Iqbal teaches us the importance of a coach who can inspire and make us deliver more than what we think we can. Passion is everything in life. Dreams should not allow us to sleep at night. How does it matter if one is deaf and mute? If there is a will then there is a way and we can live our dreams. Money is nothing before passion. Sachin Tendulkar and M S Dhoni never ran after money. Money became their willing slave.

Lage Raho Munna Bhai meaning carry on, Munna Bhai is a 2006 comedy film. It is a sequel to the 2003 film, Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. which stars Sanjay Dutt as Munna Bhai, a Mumbai underworld don. In Lage Raho Munna Bhai, the hero starts to see the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi.

Through his interactions with Gandhi, he begins to practice what he calls Gandhigiri a complete opposite of what he used to practice, Dadagiri.

With Gandhigiri the hero triesto help ordinary people solve their problems. The movie is about how group senior citizens lose their sole possession, their home and how the hero Munna Bhai helps the heroine to get back her house using the principles of Gandhigiri.

Learnings: It is the brilliance of Rajkumar Hirani the director, who made Gandhi and Gandhi’s thoughts become popular again. What the Indian government could not do for nearly 60 years, Hirani did in a single movie. That is the power of popular cinema.

Suddenly Gandhigiri was a buzz word and non-violence and civil disobedience were chic. There were many cases published in the media where Gandhigiri was being tried out on errant and non performing government officials all over India. The greatness of the movie is that a hardened criminal gets converted into a Gandhian follower and stays the course inspite of unbelievable hardships.

Chak De! India (2007) is a sports movie that made women hockey popular. Inspired by two real life incidents Chak De India tells the story of a discredited Indian hockey captain who becomes the coach of the Indian women hockey team. Against all odds he succeeds in coaching the team and makes it win the ultimate trophy - the Women World Cup.

Learnings: In movie the team focuses on the ultimate goal and makes sacrifices that are needed to achieve the goal. Chak De India tell us how to manage team members coming from different regions, speaking different languages, having different personalities and harboring massive egos come together and how to make them into a cohesive team.

The coach becomes the common enemy to unite all the players. He carefully nurtures each one of them and clearly defines roles and responsibilities. At the same time he is strict where it matters and does not hesitate to call a spade a spade. The speech that he delivers just before the finals is a master piece in inspiring self-belief and imparting motivation.

Taare Zameen Par (2007) is the story of Ishaan, an eight year old who suffers from Dyslexia a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. His poor academic performance leads his parents to send him to a boarding school. Ishaan's new art teacher realises that Ishan is dyslexic and helps him to overcome his disability and makes him excel at what he is good at, art.

Learnings: The root cause for all the misery in the world is comparisons and expectations. Ishaan’s father is an example of this malady. He tries to compare Ishaan with his gifted elder son, a big mistake. Each child is unique and we need to find that trigger that would blossom the child into realising his true potential. The movie is a powerful tale of the role of an ideal teacher and his teaching skills.

3 Idiots (2009) is a film of three young men who come from varied backgrounds to pursue engineering in a prestigious engineering college that is managed by a strict disciplinarian principal. They eventually become friends. The hero Rancho played by Aamir Khan is a unique student who has a different way of looking at all things including academics and ways of learning.

All three friends graduate after facing lots of problems. Immediately after graduation Rancho disappears. The other two friends reunite after ten years and are desperate to meet Rancho and finds out what he has become. Their discovery leaves them speech less.

Learnings: 3 Idiots is a telling commentary on our present education system that lays too much emphasis on rote memory and a craze for marks and ranks instead of focusing on creativity and out-of-box thinking. The hero comes across as a visionary thinker; one who is unafraid to go off the beaten track to practice what he feels is true.

Rocket Singh Sales Man of the year (2009) is an unusual movie by Indian standards. Most of the Hindi movies have nothing to do with business. But Rocket Singh Sales Man of the year takes a different track and succeeds. It talks about the most misunderstood profession of the world – being a salesman. Most of us think that salesmen are magicians. We think that salesmen are capable of selling anything.

There are also myths about sales men being sly, dishonest and being ready to bribe and be bribed. There are also stories about wild parties with the customers. Rocket Singh exploded all these myths. The hero is a normal nice guy.

Infact he scores only 39 per cent in his degree examination. The story is about how an average, honest, practical, level headed, hard working guy who succeeds in a profession that is cynical and is ready to cock the snook at the rules and regulations.

Learnings: Honesty is the best policy. There is no substitute for hard work. The customer is the king and he needs to be respected. Customer satisfaction is most important and there is no way that a company can survive displeasing the customer.

Chillar Party (2011) is a movie about a group of children who try to do something that their own parents and the society frown upon. The children initially dislike an urchin, Fatka who cleans the cars in their apartment block. After initial differences all the children become friends and they all love and adore Fatka’s dog Bhidu.

To their horror the city municipality decides to eradicate all the stray dogs but offers a caveat. Any dog that has the permission of the apartment owners can stay. Initially everyone except the children is against having Bhidu in their apartment block. The entire story is about how the group of children convinces their own parents and other apartment owners to sign their acceptance so that Bhidu is saved from the city municipality.

The children are not afraid and deploy unique methods of protest that include a chaddi march where they march in the city clad in their undergarments. They take on the might of the minister in a live TV debate. Nicely filmed Chillar party is a feel good movie that touches a sore spot.

Should we be happy if only we have the material comforts of the world? What about the others? What should be done when they are suffering? Where is social equity and equality? Chillar Party in its own unique way tries to answer
these questions.

Learnings: Once we feel something is right we need to fight till we achieve it. The children in the movie demonstrate steely determination in achieving their goal. They are not afraid to go against everyone including their own parents. They are media savvy and plan their entire campaign to a nicety and achieve their goal in a dramatic fashion.