Collaboration more important than competition: Screwvala

Founder of UTV Group, Ronnie Screwvala, today said working in a collaborative manner would be the feature.
"Competitiveness may be important, but 21st century is all about collaborative work. Teams and companies will come together. It will be rewarding to work collaboratively than competitively," he said.
According to Screwvala, the capacity to learn from each other has grown exponentially and the 21st century will be less hierarchical and provide opportunities through collaborative efforts rather than competitiveness.
He was speaking at the 15th convocation of IIIT- Hyderabad.
Screwvala, who had sold his stake in UTV to the American entertainment major Walt Disney in a Rs 2,000-crore deal in 2011, and donned multiple hats, including being a venture capital investor, owning a Kabaddi team, told the students, "There will be failures, but one should have conviction to move ahead."

Screwvala said he had the conviction of turning UTV into a brand and later forayed into films.

"Several of the films flopped, but 'Rang De Basanti' became a turning point, although it faced several hurdles before becoming a big hit."
"The movie was not of a typical genre and 30 per cent of it was told in a flash back. But before the release of the film the Censor Board said it cannot be cleared as it depicted the killing of a Defence Minister. Then, a special screening was arranged for the three heads of the Armed Forces and the Defence Minister. All of them agreed that the movie was fine. It was a moment of conviction for me," he said.

India is a strong democracy and this is what students are inheriting and will take it forward, he added.
He said, clarity, confidence and communication are some of the important aspects of life.
"If one cannot communicate, then it becomes a challenge to move forward. Change is another important factor and students should know how to respond to change. For that, there is a need to reinvent," he said.