Curtain Raiser @ SIIB '11-13 Batch

Late night studies to prepare for SNAP, going through various levels of group discussions & interviews and of course endless prayers, has finally led us to the big Gate which reads -

“SYMBIOSIS INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS”.

The new session has started and started off with a bang!!! From the very exciting & adventurous outbound session to an equally surprising ice breaking session with the seniors, life here is hectic but immensely enjoyable at the same time.

The outbound session; although perceived strictly as management learning outdoor experience, turned out to be more of a merry making management festival for juniors, thanks to the innovative ideas & the beautiful way it was conducted. One can’t get enough of those management games and the wonderful performances that it brought from all of us!!!

The batch consists of people coming from different backgrounds of society & distinct paths of life; but with a common dream – ‘To make it large’. I realized that our batch like every other batch at SIIB is full of Dreamers & Debaters, that’s what made the trip so very enthralling (even the Mountain trekking taught us a few management lessons).

The road ahead seems to be incredibly exciting with a lot of scope to learn & grow as an individual (& to do this while having a time of your life makes it even more worth it!!!).

Like in most Bollywood Movies (where Hero makes a grand entry) our seniors enthralled us with their grand entry (after they came back from summer trainings). Their innovation and impeccable implementation in conducting the Ice–Breaking session was marvelous. Hats off to you SIR!!!

This really made us comfortable interacting with them on variety of Topics & learn more about the institute. The wonderful equation built on the very first day with them still continues smoothly & will always do…

SIIB is a student driven institution, which has a lot of activities handled by students themselves. Students get to work for some interesting clubs & communities. Be it Alumni interactions, Guest lectures, Public relations, Students activity, Sport committee or a non-profit Non-Government Organization run by students – Prayatna, the list is never-ending…

The journey so far has been exhilarating; we have yoga sessions, aerobics classes, salsa classes, a movie club, late night activities, late night cricket etc. The campus is huge and awesome with sporadic spells of rain!! The campus seems to have some different energy; people remain busy for 24 hours. The professors are the icons, the ground breakers for all us and not to miss our very cooperative seniors. Altogether

an… AMAZING START!!!

The day ahead seems to be full of promise, hope and achievements. I hope that all my friends have a great stay at the campus. I thank all the professors and seniors for such a welcome. We hope to continue the on-going tradition of SIIB. "

Film-maker Ashutosh Gowariker – enthralls SIIBians!!

The ‘Lagaan’ director was at Symbiosis Institute Of International Business, Hinjewadi, Pune for a discussion on management & film-making.

Leadership skills, ethical practices, effective planning and execution, human relations, emotional quotient, etc. are key managerial skills, MBA students aspire for. Cinema and process of film-making have always been closely associated with these managerial aspects. Such qualities are best-depicted through films and therefore, today movie-scripts are often used as case studies in educational institutes and the corporate world. Director- Mr. Ashutosh Gowariker is one such film-maker whose protagonists Bhuvan (Lagaan) & Mohan Bharghav (Swades) changed our perception of the conventional ‘hero’, by bringing about a revolution through lateral thinking, with patriotism as the backdrop.

On 18th February 2011, Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Hinjewadi Pune (SIIB) invited Mr. Ashutosh Gowariker for a guest lecture on “Management & managerial aspects of films and film-making”.

Dr. Rajani Gupte, Director, SIIB and Dr. Vidya Yervadekar, Principal Director, Symbiosis Society, were also a part of the programme.

Mr. Gowariker began the session, with his early experiences as an actor, gradually moving towards film-making, which involved financing, operational issues, film-promotions & marketing, etc. He then spoke about how he zeroed down ‘leading actors’ for his films, based on the character’s temperament. He also threw light on how a film’s success and failure both equally important for a film-maker.

Highlights of the session:

The simplicity, humility & straightforwardness with which Mr. Ashutosh put forth his points, thoughts, ideas and experiences, wrapped in humour, had the audience in splits.

He came down to the level of youngsters which set the comfort level of the audience.

The journey of his gradual evolution from an actor to director, director to a producer and finally from a producer to writer, with confusion and chaos at every stage, is something every youngster faces at this point of time, and could therefore connect to the transition process instantly.

The interaction was the USP of the show, since people actually came out with frank, open queries, and having most of the questions answered much to their satisfaction.

Overall, it was a highly interactive, humorous and interesting session, and the audience enjoyed every bit of it.