Lagaan: A Project Management Case Study of the Making of

the Film

Sujoy SinghaStudent ID: 22924299

M.Sc Management Science,University of Southampton

MANG 6133: Managing Resources and Operations2008-2009

Word Count: 2,955

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Synopsis

3. Project Scope and Work Breakdown Structure

4. Stakeholders Analysis

5. Risk Analysis I

6. Project Network and Critical Path

7. Risk Analysis II and Causal Mapping

8. How is Causal Mapping helpful in Project Management?

9. Structures and Methods for Governance and Management of Project

9.1 Suggestions For Project Management Frameworks And Methods

10. Project Result

References

Lagaan: A Project Management Case Study of the

Making of the Film

One of Indian cinema's biggest successes, Lagaan was not only big in terms of revenue and worldwide acclaim, but also for its grand scale - including an international cast, remote location shooting, 10,000 extras and a first time producer. This article attempts to capture the aspects of Project Management in the making of this movie and reflects upon the Project's scope, Work Breakdown Structure, Risk Analysis and Governance methods. By combining these, a graphical representation of the entire process of movie making can be viewed from the eyes of Project Management.

1. INTRODUCTION:

15th of June, 2001 saw history being made on the big screen. One of India's biggest movie hits ever, Lagaan was released worldwide and it was an instant success. Almost 3 years in the making, Lagaan was built on an astronomical budget of Rs. 250 million (almost US $ 5 million) (BoxOfficeIndia.com). It was not only a domestic success (domestic revenue: Rs. 389 million or US $ 7.78 million), but also won international acclaim and earned US $ 2.5 million at the international box-office. For debutante producer Aamir Khan, (who was also the lead actor in the movie) and director Ashutosh Gowariker, this was a huge canvas which could sway in either direction -become a monstrous hit, or fall flat on its face.

2. SYNOPSIS:

Lagaan depicts the story of the villagers of Champaner in 1893, India who are faced with increasing land tax (Lagaan) by the British rulers. The British army captain challenges the villagers to a cricket match and at stake is tax exemption. But if the villagers lose the game, the tax would be raised further. The villagers led by Bhuvan, accept the challenge and courageously come face to face with the British army in the climactic cricket match.

3. PROJECT SCOPE:

“Project scope management is primarily concerned with defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project.” (PMBOK Guide)

From the writer and director-Ashutosh Gowariker’s perspective, this project began with the initial idea inception stage which led to the full scripted storyline of the idea. This script was then pitched in front of Producers who would be willing to finance this project. [Note: Unlike Hollywood, where studio networks provide the funding, filmmaking in India is primarily financed by individuals]

The definition of the scope of such a huge project is very important as it clearly maps out what key activities should be carried out for the planning, arranging, controlling and implementing of the project successfully.

Hence, the scope of the project would involve activities which would span from pre-production planning and arrangements, scheduling and budgeting, to the actual shooting procedure, as well as post-production activities. Further, in terms of the business context, this project would necessarily aim at producing the planned film (which is the end product) within the scheduled time. Controlling the entire procedure of making the film is divided into manageable sub-divisions and the crew members are assigned their respective roles and responsibilities e.g. Set Building is to be supervised by the Art Director, Cinematography is to be handled by the Director of Photography, who also co-ordinates with the related departments like Sound, Lights etc.

Based upon the scope definition, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) of the project is prepared, which enlists the activities required to complete the project successfully. WBS is just a list of activities and is not chronologically ordered as in the case of Project Network Diagram. The possible WBS diagram of this project is shown below.

Fig. 1.1: Work Breakdown Structure of the Film Project

[Note: a) Lagaan involved cast members from India as well British actors/actresses and hence the audition process has been divided into Domestic and International.

b) The Exec Producer and Asst. Direction Team supervise over the status monitoring and Resource Management of the shooting.

c) Lagaan was shot in a single slot of 6 months in a remote village called Bhuj in the west coast of India. Location Amenities have been specifically mentioned as secured and comfortable accommodation for the 300 cast and crew members, was very crucial.

d) Special mention of extras audition has been done. Lagaan’s climactic cricket match involves 10,000 villagers.]

4. STAKEHOLDERS ANALYSIS:

“Project stakeholders are individuals and organizations that are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be affected as a result of project execution or project completion. They may also exert influence over the project’s objectives and outcomes.” [PMBOK Guide] It is crucial to understand and identify the stakeholders and determine their expectations and requirements so as to ensure a successful project. The stakeholders in this particular project can be:-

a) Director / Writer: - He invests his idea, skill, time and effort in bringing the project to life. He is the driving force and the head of the creative department.

b) Producer(s):- They invest the money and take care of the financial aspect of filmmaking. Right from the location and equipment hires to paying bills for the cast and crew members, they look over all of it.

c) Cast/Crew: - The 300 strong cast/crew members spend a long 6 month away from their families in a remote location until they complete their task. They are also the active participants and executers of the project.

d) Local Population: - The local population is also significantly affected by such a huge project being undertaken in their vicinity.

e) Law and Order: - The law and order of the location is also a stakeholder as it can affect the way the film is produced. Any disruption to the environment, anti-cruelty laws against animals etc are factors which influence the project.

Success/Failure for each Stakeholder has been tabulated below.

SUCCESS FAILURE

DIRECTOR/WRITER Green Signal for Initiation Project Rejected

On Schedule Shooting and Completion Project Delay

Desired Success of Film Film Not Well Received

PRODUCER(S) Proper channelling of Funds Financing Problems

On Schedule Shooting and Completion Project delay

Desired Success and Expected Profit Film Not Doing Good Business

CAST/CREW On Schedule Shooting and Completion Film Delayed

Expected Contractual Pay-off Problematic Pay-Off

Desired Success of Film Film Not Well Received

LOCAL POPULATION No Disruption to Local Environment Local Environment Disrupted

Local Employment Opportunities N/A

LAW AND ORDERNo Flora and Fauna Getting adversely affected Flora and Fauna Hampered

Labour Laws being Followed Labour Laws Disobeyed

Table 1.1 Success/Failure Analysis for Stakeholders

Furthermore, contractual agreements between the different stakeholders can be related to distribution of share of revenue and profit margins, length of the contract period, safety, security and insurance agreements, and abidance to industry standards and labour laws.

5. RISK ANALYSIS I:

Risk can be defined as “Uncertainty inherent in plans and the possibility of something happening that can affect the prospects of achieving business or project goals”. [BS 6079] With Lagaan being a huge project, the possibility of risk to creep in from every nook and corner was high and it needed to be managed. The two main risks that needed to be dealt with were also directly related to two biggest constraints –Time and Money. Both can be classified as the main risks –i.e. over-budget and project-delay. The major risks contributing to this are discussed below:-

a) Uncertainty: The script of Lagaan involved a lot of uncertain elements which was never seen before in Indian cinema. A period film, shot in a remote location with almost an unknown cast (except for the lead actor). Further, the director’s previous two movies had not been well received. All these meant Lagaan had the risk of not doing well at the box-office.

b) Environment: The location for the shooting was in Bhuj, Gujrat in Western India. The weather conditions could get quite extreme and affect in the delay of the shoot. Further, sandstorms and heavy winds kept obstructing the shooting procedure.

c) Accommodation: Housing the entire 300 cast and crew members in a single location, was extremely risky. Ensuring safety, security and proper food and lodging was essential. If not done properly, health conditions and safety of the cast and crew would be affected negatively.

d) Health: The main cast and crew members were irreplaceable. Any one of them getting injured or ill would mean the project to be halted completely.

e) Technical: Equipment Malfunctions, technical shortcomings demanding rework and customization etc. lead to project delay.

f) Controlling Resources: Co-ordination of 300 cast/crew members to consistently produce correct output as well as behave as pre-planned is only possible in an ideal world. Over and above, the climax scene of Lagaan involves 10,000 extras. This could risk the entire shoot if not controlled.

6. PROJECT NETWORK AND CRITICAL PATH:

The entire project can be further sub-divided into two major sub-projects.The first part is the Pre-Production Project, which ends with the Beginning of the Shoot.The second part is the Shooting and Post-Production which ends with the final element of the project, the Release of the movie.

Fig 1.2: Pre-Production Project Network Diagram

Although, the project procedure begins with the Script Writing, but from a management point of movie, the project initiation start-point is after the Script is being given a go-ahead. The Project Network shown in Fig 1.2 and 1.3 gives a graphical idea of the Project activities.

Fig 1.3: Shooting and Post-Production Project Network Diagram

The critical activities are the ones which contribute the highest to the risk factor of the entire project. These activities typically involve high time and resource and rely a lot on other uncertain factors like weather conditions, irreplaceable resources (like the Technical crew, leading members of cast etc.). Further, these could also be such activities which are mandatory to be completed for any other activity else to begin. Considering this, the following can be termed as critical activities.

a) The appointment of the correct Cast and Crew members for the project is the most crucial activity for the project. Without the right minded resources, any project can collapse and in case of this project, this is extremely essential.

b) The sheer size of such a project demands a proper planning and scheduling to control the time and money constraints effectively. Hence, project scheduling and planning is one of the critical activities.

c) Location Amenities and Set Design: Without proper amenities, the cast and crew member team cannot be kept on location. Set Design on the other hand serves the backdrop of the movie canvas which needs to be completed before the movie begins. d) Shooting: For obvious reasons, the shooting of the movie is also one of the crucial activities because this is where all the planning is being implemented.

The following timescale shows the various activities and the time taken by them. [Source: S. BHATKAL, The Spirit of Lagaan, 2001]

ACTIVITYSep 99

Mar 99

Apr 99

May 99

Jun 99

Jul 99

Aug 99

Sep 99

Oct 99

Dec 99

Jan 00

Jun 00

Jul 00

Dec 00

Jan 01

Jun 01

RESEARCH FOR LOCATION     TECHNICAL CREW APPOINTED     DOMESTIC CAST AUDITION     INTL CAST AUDITION         LOCATION AMENITIES AND SET DESIGN     MUSIC/LYRICS             SHOOTING BEGINS     POST PRODUCTION     PUBLICITY AND RELEASE    

Table 1.2: Timescale distribution of Project Activities

Based on this timescale [Gantt Chart, H.Maylor, Project Management], the critical path (the longest path of planned activities to the end of the project, and the earliest and latest that each activity can start and finish without making the project longer) for the project network can be deduced as shown in the figure below.

Fig 1.4: Critical Path of Project Network

7. RISK ANALYSIS II AND CAUSAL MAP:

As seen from Risk Analysis in Section, we have discussed the 6 main risks faced by this Project. On further analysis of the Project, the correlation between the issues and risks can be determined. The risks and issues enlisted below are identified as the key ones faced by this project.

On Location Accommodation Food for entire cast/crew/extras Safety and Security Health and Hygiene Issues Weather Conditions Co-ordination problems with excessive amount of Extras Equipment Malfunction Local Labour Laws Delay in Shooting Project behind Schedule Over Budget Delay in Release Decrease in Profit Margin

The causal map figure (below) shows how the risks and issues are related to each other.

Fig 1.5 Risk Causal Mapping Diagram

[The blocks in blue denote the risks and issues faced by the project. The pink blocks denote the measures taken by the management to handle these risks and issues. ]

The management actions that would be undertaken to handle these issues and risks are shown in pink blocks in the above fig. They are listed below.

Supervise Health, Safety and Security Extra Effort by Asst. Direction Team to Control Extras Customisation and Rework Negotiate with Law Administrators Hire New Equipment Control Budget for Post Production

8. HOW IS CAUSAL MAPPING HELPFUL IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT?

Causal Mapping graphically represents a correlation between the risks and issues of the Project. Furthermore, the management actions to be taken to rectify these issues are linked as well. This creates a clear picture of the key areas where focus and intense work is required so as to ensure that the project is completed successfully. The benefits of Causal Mapping in Project Management are listed below.

It gives rise to a richer knowledge of the project issues and enables the management to see the big picture and in detail as well.

Through Causal Mapping, predicting weakest links and their consequences becomes easy.

Consequently, serious measures can be undertaken to eradicate these risks and issues.

Severity of risks can be analysed on the basis of inter-connections and disconnections with other risks.

Most importantly, in a huge project involving numerous activities, it serves as an aid to reduce complexity and view the risks and issues in feedback loops. This is vital to prevent projects from becoming absolute failures.

9. STRUCTURES AND METHODS FOR GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF PROJECT

The scope of this project is very large, and hence, each activity was treated as a mini-project. Special care was taken to ensure that the project was being run on schedule. For this, call sheets were utilised to track records of attendance of cast on time. Precise timings for breaks were allotted and each activity was given a deadline.

Project Scheduling, Detailed Budgeting and Resource Controlling were implemented to manage the project. Besides that, checkpoints at strategic points were used to monitor the progress of the project.

9.1 SUGESSTIONS FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORKS AND METHODS:

Even though this project implemented some best practices mentioned above, it became over-budget and production was completed two months after the scheduled completion date. The uncontrollable risk factors did contribute to this delay; however, methods for governance of project could have helped in reducing the delay. Some of these frameworks and methods are briefly discussed below.

The 7-S framework of Project Management [H.Maylor, Project Management] provides a comprehensive set of issues that need to be considered. These are Strategy, Structure, Systems, Staff, Skills, Style/Culture and Stakeholders.

Project Management Process Groups Mapped to the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle [PMBOK Guide, 2004]: This process is an enhanced cycle which is applied on the interrelationships within and among the Process Groups. The Monitoring and Controlling Process is interacts with every aspect of the other Process Groups as shown in fig (below).

Fig 1.6 Project Management Process Groups Mapped to the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle

Stage-Gates [T.Williams, Managing Resources and Operations] provide a check-point at each stage of the project. It keeps a track record of the success/failure of an activity.

Fig 1.7 Project Management Processes Stage-Gates Framework10. THE PROJECT RESULT:

a) In Jan 2001, a catastrophic earthquake hit the village of Bhuj, six months after the shooting completed, and claiming 13,000 lives. Much before its worldwide release, the filmmakers screened it exclusively to the villagers of Bhuj.7

b) Although Lagaan was delayed and over-budget, it did very well at the box office, and was highly appreciated in many film festivals worldwide. It was nominated for Best Foreign Film Category at the Academy Awards in 2002.8

c) It won awards at Locarno, Portland, Leeds and Bergen International Film Festival. It also features at no.14 in the “50 films to See before You Die” list compiled by BBC and Channel 4.9

d) Post release, Lagaan has spawned a huge number of merchandising items ranging from comics to toys. The DVD of Lagaan remains as the highest selling DVD in India.10

REFERENCES:

1. SATYAJIT BHATKAL, The Spirit of Lagaan, 2002, Popular Prakashan

2. Top Earners 2000-2009, BoxOfficeIndia.com

3. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 3rd Edition, 2004, Project Management Institute

4. BS6079, Guide to Project Management, 2002

5. H.MAYLOR, Project Management, 3rd Edition, 2005, Pearson Education

6. T.WILLIAMS, Managing Resources and Operations, Project Management, 2009, School of Management, University of Southampton

7. Lagaan screens at Bhuj, Tribune India, June 13, 2001

8. Full list of Oscar winners and nominees, Guardian, Feb 12, 2002

9. Film buffs reveal must-see list, NEWS.BBC.CO.UK, Jul 23, 2006

10. Lagaan beats Sholay in DVD Sales, Financial Express, Jul 21, 2007