Meet the Faculty
Kandaswamy Bharathan
An alumnus of Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad (IIMA), Bharathan spent 12 years in the Automotive sector before joining Kavithalayaa, a well-known Film and television production house based in Chennai serving the company in various leadership roles for the past 21 years. He was Executive Producer of Award winning films such as Roja, Annamalai, Muthu and many others.
Bharathan’s in-depth knowledge and understanding of the entertainment industry has led to him being a sought after advisor. He was Business Advisor to US-based Silicon Image Inc. engaged in the design and development of High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a content protection technology for multimedia content. He also served as an Advisor to Multimedia Development Corporation - a Government of Malaysia undertaking, on E-village, an entertainment and multimedia initiative project. In his individual capacity, he advises many media companies in the areas of strategy, leadership and Innovation.
Bharathan is a Visiting Faculty at IIM-Ahmedabad and played a key role in designing India’s first management course on film industry for the institute. Bharathan has contributed to knowledge initiatives by writing a few Case-studies on the Indian film industry, highlighting the business challenges in a creative industry. He regularly speaks at the events of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, on topics related to the entertainment and technology sector. He is currently on the Governing Council of Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce & Industry and has participated in three industrial delegations to Japan, representing the Entertainment sector. Bharathan was an invited speaker at the international seminar “Hollywood meets Bollywood” hosted by the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication in collaboration with American India Foundation (AIF). He was a member of the FICCI Entertainment delegation to Japan and the USA in 2001 as well as the CII delegation to the American Film Market 2003 (AFMA) Santa Monica, California besides presenting a paper at the first International Advisory Board Meeting in Malaysia on Globalization of Entertainment industry in 2001. The film Muthu which he promoted in Japan became a big success and contributed to building business and cultural ties between India and Japan.
A visionary manager who saw professionalism and innovation as essential to the survival and growth of the Indian film industry, Bharathan spends time proactively advocating the concept. He has designed a unique training module “Lessons in Excellence from the film industry” and speaks at various HR events on this subject. He also pioneered the design and development of India’s first software for the movie industry in 1998 (HERO 98). Currently, he is active in nurturing “Green Cinema”, an initiative to promote environment friendly best practices in film production.
His contribution to community includes serving as a Trustee on the Board of V-Excel Educational Trust, a Chennai-based non-profit, public charitable trust which focuses on education of children with developmental disabilities.
