Email
Print
ShareThink business executive and the image that comes to mind is that of a bright, dynamic young man or, increasingly, woman, in a smart suit who tends to be staid. Well, even boring, actually. This is not a species given to high jinks or flamboyance.
But film maker Madhur Bhandarkar thinks otherwise. His executives, as shown in his latest film Corporate, are unscrupulous, mendacious and corrupt, given to every wile to get ahead personally and for the greater glory and net profits of their company.
It is a compelling image, one that can leave an indelible mark on young, impressionable minds. At least that is what some real-life businessmen believe. Assocham, an organisation of business houses, has objected to the on-screen presentation of businessmen in the film.
They think it will give a wrong idea to young MBAs who will not then want to take up business and corporate life as a career.
How insensitive of the film maker. He should surely have taken the sensibilities of the corporate world into confidence before making his film.
They may be businessmen, but they also feel pain, when you prick them they most probably do bleed.
The pain of the corporate person can be understood here. True, there are people like those in the film, but business is also about hard work, about creating value and aiding economic growth.
Though there is no dearth of crafty and shady businessmen in India, Bhandarkar has taken a mite too much creative licence and caricatured an entire community of people in the corporate sector. The central idea, about two soft drink manufacturers who go to absurd lengths to trip up each other, may have been stolen from the headlines, yet why tar all with the same brush?
Yet, we think Assocham protests too much. True, this film -- and many others in the past, one may add -- have shown businessmen in a poor light, but that hasn't stopped more and more youngsters from exploring their entrepreneurial spirit or joining big companies to become executives. Look at the rush for MBA admissions.
If Assocham had any imagination, it would buy up the distribution rights of the film and screen it in every school and college and show how dynamic the world of business is. You learn to handle pressure, wear smart clothes and perhaps even meet Bipasha Basu. Now, where did that IIM form go?
