Malayalam cinema is under question these days. Actresses working in Malayalam films and other women associated with the industry are sharing horrific incidents of sexual harassment and assault that happened to them.
Malayalam cinema icon Mohanlal, president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), formed for the welfare of artists working in the industry, has resigned along with the 17-member executive committee. Senior male officials in other Malayalam cinema organizations, including AMMA, have also been accused of sexual harassment and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to investigate all such cases.
This whole matter is related to the report of the Hema Committee. The report of this committee formed in 2017 was made public for the first time on 19 August 2024 and since then the Malayalam industry has been in the dock regarding the treatment of women. What is this Hema Committee? Why was it formed? And what does its report say? Let us tell you…
Sexual assault on a big Malayalam actress started a storm
In February 2017, an incident happened with one of the top Malayalam actresses, which shocked not only the Malayalam industry but the entire country. The actress was returning from the shoot and was sexually assaulted by several men in a moving car. In this case, the connection of a big personality of the Malayalam industry, actor-producer Dileep came to light. Dileep was also arrested and in a short time he also got bail.
Following the way the industry treated the entire incident and the insensitive comments on the sentiments of male actors, several leading actresses of the Malayalam industry joined hands. Leading actresses of the industry Manju Warrier, Parvathy, Bhavana, Anjali Menon, Geetu Mohandas, Vidhu Vincent, Rima Kallingal, Ramya Nambeesan, Didi Damodaran and Surabhi Lakshmi came together ideologically to protest against the discrimination and treatment of women in Malayalam cinema and founded the Women in Cinema (WCC) initiative in May 2017. On 1 November 2017, actress Rima Kallingal got WCC registered as a society.
WCC met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and demanded the formation of an expert committee to study the problems of women in cinema and take steps to provide justice to the victimized women. After this petition, the Kerala government formed a committee under the leadership of Justice K. Hema, a retired judge of the Kerala High Court. Veteran actress Sharada and retired IAS officer K. B. Valsala Kumari were also members of this committee.
The committee gave the report but it did not come out
The Hema Committee submitted its report to the government on 31 December 2019. However, the report was not released and the government did not take any action on it for 5 years. On 6 July 2024, in response to an RTI, the State Information Commission of Kerala ordered the Kerala government to make the report public by 24 July, removing information that identified individuals.
On the date of the release of the report, a film producer filed a petition in the High Court that this report could violate his ‘right to privacy’ as a witness and he could be made a ‘scapegoat’. After this petition, the High Court put a stay. But on August 13, the court found that making the report public would not violate anyone’s ‘right to privacy’ and it is necessary for the report to be made public for public interest. After the court’s order, the Hema Committee report was made public on August 19, 2024. And as soon as this report came out, there was an uproar in the Malayalam industry.
Problems faced by women in Malayalam industry
The Hema Committee found that there are 30 categories of women working in the film industry, including actresses. These include categories like producer, director, makeup artist, singer, editor and junior artist.
Hema Committee tried to talk to women working in almost all categories through various mediums. Based on which they identified 17 major problems faced by women in the Malayalam film industry:
1. Demand for sex from women to enter and work in the industry
2. Sexual harassment, abuse and sexual assault of women
3. Torture for not fulfilling sexual demands
4. Lack of basic things like toilets and changing rooms
5. Lack of safety in the industry
6. Illegal banning of women and other persons
7. Suppressing women’s voices by threatening bans
8. Gender-based discrimination against women and male dominance in the industry
9. Abuse of women under the influence of drugs
10. Abusive and vulgar comments at work or on the phone
11. Not tailoring professional contracts to suit personal needs
12. Not receiving the agreed fees
13. Gender-based fee discrimination – different fees for men and women
14. Giving less opportunities to women, especially in technical things
15. Online Harassment
16. Lack of awareness among women about their rights
17. Lack of any legal authority to complain
In the report of Hema Committee, the problems faced by women in Malayalam industry were studied in detail. The most shocking things that came out on the basis of this study were the issues of women’s safety and their basic rights.
The lower wages women receive compared to men was a big issue. But many major reasons that make women’s safety and their routine work unsafe were listed in the Hema Committee report. Some of these major reasons are as follows:
No toilet, no changing room
Almost all the women the Hema Committee spoke to said that there were no toilet facilities or changing rooms on the sets, especially when shooting took place at remote outdoor locations. Women often had to go to the nearby forest, bushes or behind big trees to change clothes and use the toilet.
The committee cited a shocking incident in which a junior artist was denied toilet access by the production unit because it took a 10-minute walk to reach a convenient toilet spot. Many women also suffered medical problems due to such problems.
Adjustment, ‘compromise’ and casting couch
The report described sexual harassment as the biggest issue for women in the Malayalam industry. The report says that many big and reputed names in the industry have been involved in such incidents.
With the first attempt to enter the industry, women are asked to ‘adjust’ or ‘compromise’. And they are told that they have to be ready for ‘sex on demand’. People already working in the industry create such an environment so that newcomer actresses are ready for such things. Many women presented videos, WhatsApp messages and audio clips of such demands in front of the committee.
Drunk men working in cinema knock on the door of women’s rooms at night during their stay in hotels. And they knock in such a way as if they want to break the door and enter the room.
Fear of going to the police
Women told the committee that being a public personality, they are hesitant to approach the police in case of sexual harassment or assault. But there is a risk of even worse things happening if they go to the police or court after such cases. There is a risk of their own life and the lives of their family members being in danger.
The very next day after filing a complaint, their name starts getting maligned on social media and cyber attacks start taking place. Women who complain are tortured and attempts are made to demoralize them through obscene and vulgar messages, pictures and language. Statements of sexual nature start being made against them from public forums.
cinema mafia
In front of Hema Committee, a big actor talked about a powerful lobby in Malayalam cinema and called them ‘cinema mafia’. No one can dare to raise voice against them. This lobby does not take long to clean out any such person from the industry. The committee found proof that there is a ‘power group’ of 10-15 people in the Malayalam industry, which controls the entire industry.
Whenever these people get upset with someone, they together stop that person from working in the industry. These people send secret messages to each other that they should not work with a particular person and then people’s careers are ruined.
Ban on actresses who raised their voice
The Hema Committee report revealed that many members of the WCC, which was formed after the horrific incident of 2017, were banned in this ‘unofficial’ manner. As the women members of the WCC kept raising one issue after another, the producers started banning them.
Producers also prefer that the cast of the film consists of those who do not create any such ‘problem’ i.e. do not raise their voice. Many male filmmakers have publicly admitted that they will not work with women associated with WCC. Not only WCC members, other women also admitted that they were banned in this way as soon as they complained about misbehavior, sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Apart from this, the Hema Committee report also highlighted that such rules are made to limit the number of women in technical departments. In this way, the number of women on sets and in the industry remains low, which helps men to unite against them.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)