Bollywood is not just all about masala movies and dancing around trees but there have been movies that are inspirational, which mirror changes in our society.

Three mainstream Bollywood films Manthan, Swades and Chak De are now study material for rural management students at the Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB).

Edutainment, as the exercise is called, is expected to help them get a better feel of 'Community Mobilisation and Institution Building.'

Payodhi, a student at the institute said, "Learning through films is actually very helpful because they reflect the society and you tend to understand the societal dynamics through movies."

Sashank Tripathy, another student, XIMB said: "If I can watch a movie and there is some theoretical concepts which have been depicted over there then that's a better way to retain knowledge. Since management is experiential learning the film brings that element into it."

The films form the text of the course and students are supposed to deduce theories of rural management from the narrative. Apart from students even teachers say they are benefitting.

"These three films are able to meet my objective. So for characteristics of the mobiliser, Swadesh is helping me. If I am teaching mobilization process, Manthan is of great help. And if I am teaching the village institution building, Chak De India helps me," said Neeraj Kumar, Professor, Rural Management, XIMB.

The new method has ensured greater sense of involvement among students and for a change animated discussions have replaced yawns.

"Having films on our course menu bring that extra edge to the whole thing and it is fun," said Divya Krishnaswamy, Student, XIMB.

With the runaway success of the film-based rural management course, XIMB is now considering introducing similar methodology for other courses as well provided they get the kind of films that match the content of the syllabus.