IIM INDORE
PGP 2015-2017 ETHICS AND CSR REPORT ON MOVIE GAFLA

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SUBMITTED TO:
Prof. Biswanath Swain

SUBMITTED BY:
GROUP 5 :
Aditi Garg, Ankit, Deepa Yadav, Karamveer, Shijin T N, Sreeram P, Tarun Kumar Madhei

Letter of Transmittal:

Prof. Biswanath Swain 22 November 2015 Subject: Report on movie Gafla Dear Sir,

It critically analyses the ethical dilemmas faced by various characters in the movie and the ethical approaches that were followed by them to solve those issues.
Yours Sincerely,
Group 5
Section-C

Executive Summary:

This is a report presents the various ethical issues faced by various characters in the movie Gafla. The report also deals with the various ethical approaches that were followed by various characters in these situations. We have also recommended various solutions to their problems that they could have approached.

Situation Analysis:
'Gafla' begins as a story about an ordinary young man, Subodh. He starts out as like any middle-class guy, with limited opportunities to survive and get ahead. 'Gafla' follows Subodh's journey into the stock markets and beyond through the eyes of different people in his personal and professional life.
Subodh wants to come up in life and be a rich man. He thinks that share market is the best thing to become rich, if you handle it properly. He reads lots of books on share markets and his idol is Rasiklal, whose rags to riches story impresses him.
He comes across Hari who is a stock broker. Through him he enters world of share markets. He opens an office and everyone starts buying shares as per his recommendations and make money - from middle class people to low class people treat him as their god. Then the bigwigs in share markets get worried and he is accused of a multi-billion bank scam and is arrested.

Ethical Issues:
1) Subodh’s friend Jayant needs to pay 2 Lakh Rupees for getting a government job. The underlying ethical issue is whether bribery should be used for getting a job. 2) Subodh’s friend Hari becomes a stockbroker and wanted Subodh to join him. But Hari was working for Thakur who followed unethical practices in the stock market.

3) Should he marry Maya, the daughter of a businessman which would benefit him professionally or should he stay with Vidya, the love of his life. 4) Should Subodh negotiate with Thakur who was planning to bring the market down for his own benefits or should he stick with his own principles.

5) Subodh gains the trust of the broker Mr. Shah by portraying his friend Vidya as his wife. How this can be viewed from the lens of ethical analysis? Analysis of the Dilemmas and issues 1.) Paying 2 lakhs bribe
Since such an amount was not readily available with Jayant, he was planning to use his father’s PF amount. Vidya tries to talk sense into him saying that it is wrong to get involved in such an activity. Subodh intervenes and says that to get something good you have to arrange for means to attain that. Subodh doesn’t care much about the path taken rather the end results. Though it is said that ends justify the means, it is not true in real life. From the perspective of Virtue Ethics, it is clear that his ideology does not match with the rules of the act itself. He encourages an act that is unethical and illegal to attain something good, expecting that good would negate the bad. Recommendation: Subodh could have asked him not to go for the bribe citing the consequences. His acts could get him prosecuted and since he is from a lower class of the society, the repercussions on him and his family would be high. 2.) Join Hari or not
Hari was the person who helped Subodh get acquainted with the market tactics during his early days in the world of stock market. Later when Hari becomes a stock broker and invites Subodh to join him, Subodh faces a dilemma whether to join Hari or not to join him because Hari was working with Thakur who being a big player in the stock market tried to bring down the market for more profits, which was against Subodh’s principles
Subodh chose not to join Hari.
Ethical approach: The Virtue Approach Subodh believed that in order to earn profits there was no need to bring the market down as this could be achieved by making better investments. This way the stock market would never come down and so nobody would suffer losses. So If he joins Hari he would be forced to go against his perceived ideals. Thus he refuses to join Hari. Instead he opens his own office later on which he operates on his own principles. 3.) Maya vs Vidya
The ethical dilemma Subodh face is due to his ambitions which he wanted to fulfil at any cost. It has taken him to the point where it start affecting his personal life also. He has to marry the daughter of a businessman to get the recommendation of her father for his career. This has to be done at the cost of forgetting his love Vidya with whom he wanted to get settled after sometime. For his own ambitions he need to break the heart of Vidya who is innocent and does not know any motive behind Subodh’s decision. So finally he decided to marry Maya. We analysed that subodh comes under ill-conceived goal breakdown of Ethics and he cannot see what is right or wrong at this point. He should follow the Virtue Ethics as the Ethical Approach as he is lacking temperance because he is having control on his actions then he would have thought before taking his decision. So We recommend that he should not have married Maya due to his benefits as he has ruined 3 lives by this action and moreover it also adds to the final consequences he has to face. 4.) Negotiating with Karmendra Thakur Thakur was a big name in the stock market and had a huge influence on the market operations.
On the recommendation of Rasiklal, Subodh has agreed to come on agreement with Thakur. It was not a good move as Thakur never compromised to anyone. He was of the view to take market down for his own benefits in which he needs the support of Subodh. Thakur is considering his own benefits and intentionally wanted to destroy the market. He has under Motivated blindness and on the other hand, Subodh is already trapped as he does not have funds to take market up to furthermore points. So he agrees to him seeing the long term benefits as he wanted to remain in market for longer period of time and he is overvaluing outcomes. We recommend that he should not have negotiated as he is not following the path of justice in negotiating with Thakur. Further we have seen that he was not supported by anyone at the end and he was not able to prove himself innocent.
Utilitarianism Subodh disagrees to negotiate with thakur because he believed that due to finance ministry’s law, now he could follow his own course of actions which aligned with his principles and would be benefitial for him as well as all the other investors.

5.) Subodh gains the trust of the broker Shah was skeptical about Subodh. Subodh brings his friend Vidya to Shah saying it is his wife and that she is working for the family as Subodh is unemployed. Shah seems to be convinced and accepts him. This again can be analysed from the perspective of Virtue Ethics. As for the bribery case, this one also falls under the same category where he considers the ends justify the means. This can be categorized as fraudulent activity and can invite legal implications on both of them. However, his belief that to gain trust one has to do such things clearly goes again the ethical processes. Recommendation: Subodh should have shown his mettle by proving himself to be hardworking and trustworthy. He should not have used his friend to attain his selfish needs. Rather maybe use her as reference to get him a job under Shah.