By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI – The Malayalam film industry is in turmoil following the release of a report of the three-member Justice K. Hema Committee, formed in 2017, revealing the shocking tales of discrimination, exploitation and sexual harassment of women in the industry. The report, submitted by the committee to the Kerala government in December 2019, was released with limited redactions on August 19, 2024.
The Hema Committee, comprising retired judge of Kerala High Court, Justice K. Hema, former actor Sharada, and retired IAS officer K.B. Valsala Kumari was formed in 2017 after a petition moved by Kerala-based Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) to look into the issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality in Malayalam film industry. The WCC itself came into existence after a Malayalam woman actor came forward alleging abduction and sexual assault on her in Kochi.
The report reveals that sexual favours have been considered a necessary in the Malayalam film industry for a significant period. The existence of a power group, that is capable of controlling the whole industry, and casting couch are allegedly in the play in the industry, as the report revealed. All of these affect a range of women across the industry, including actors, technicians, make-up artists, dancers and support staff.
The report has also dealt with other inequities that put the women in the industry at disadvantage, such as the lack of essential facilities of toilets, changing rooms, safe transportation, and accommodation at the shooting spots which are violative of the right to privacy, discrimination in remuneration, and a lack of binding contractual agreements.
After the release of the report, several female actors have come forward with sexual harassment accusations against many actors and film technicians in the industry, rekindling the #MeToo movement in the Malayalam film industry.
The Hema Committee’s report was made public five years after it was submitted to the Kerala government. The report revealed horrid tales of sexual exploitation, illegal bans, discrimination, drug and alcohol abuse, wage disparity and in some cases, inhuman working conditions. The 235-page report, published after redacting the names of the witnesses as well as the accused, notes that the Malayalam film industry is under the clutches of certain male producers, directors and actors.
The debates sparked in the public domain by the release of the report seem to have emboldened many women to speak out about harrowing experiences they have had in the past. A Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising senior women police officers, has been constituted for conducting a preliminary inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment against a few actors of Malayalam cinema.
In 2017, a popular Malayalam woman actor came forward alleging abduction and sexual assault on her in Kochi. The Kerala police investigation zeroed in on actor Dileep, who was booked on charges of conspiring to carry out the sexual assault. After the survivor identified herself on social media, the industry saw an unprecedented shake-up, leading to the formation of WCC.
Since the release of the report, a number of women, some of whom have now given up acting, have publicly spoken about facing sexual assault and harassment in the industry. More than a dozen police complaints have been filed against some male stars, two of whom have also filed counter-complaints.
The turmoil has been so intense that the entire top governing body of the state’s biggest film group, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), was dissolved after its president, superstar Mohanlal, resigned on moral grounds after some members faced accusations. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Only a few have spoken up till now. More serious issues may emerge,’’ actor Mala Parvathy said in an interview to a television news channel.
The reactions to the first-of-its-kind report are being closely watched by people in country’s other film industries as well, including in Bollywood. During the #MeToo movement, several women had made sexual harassment allegations against actors and filmmakers in different states but few of these have been investigated.
After the release of the report, the first public allegation came from Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra, who accused well-known director Ranjith of sexually harassing her a few years ago. He has denied this but resigned as chairman of the state’s prestigious Motion Picture Academy. Mitra has filed a police complaint. Many of the other complaints are similar to those in the report, stating that women were repeatedly asked to compromise and adjust in exchange for opportunities.
The committee confirms the rumoured existence of the practice of “casting couch” in the industry. Contrary to the other fields, sexual harassment starts even before a woman starts working in the film industry as demands for sexual favours are made by very well-known people in the industry in lieu of offering them roles. Some of the witnesses provided video clips, audio clips and screenshots of WhatsApp messages as proof of casting couch attempts.
Many of the women find it unsafe to stay alone in the accommodation arranged for them during shooting, as men in inebriated condition habitually knock their doors. Attempts to forcibly enter their room by knocking down doors were also recounted by witnesses, notes the report. One specific case mentions an actress who had to act as the wife of her abuser the very next day of the incident, causing the victim immense trauma. In an attempt to persuade newcomers, some people in the industry actively create the impression that successful women have made it through compromises.
Many women who were examined by the committee were afraid to reveal things which they experienced fearing adverse consequences. The fear is well-founded. The committee damningly notes that it is concerned about their safety and even that of their close relatives. The experiences which many women in cinema have gone through are of such gravity that they had not disclosed these details even to their close family members.
They also rarely approach the police fearing the consequences from powerful forces in the industry as well as cyberattacks due to their public profiles. In another instance of the climate of fear that existed in the industry, when the Hema Committee formed a WhatsApp group with dancers in the industry, most of them left the group one after the other, after hearing the committee’s intention. Similar was the case with junior artistes, one of the most exploited lot in the industry.
Junior artists are in some cases treated worse than slaves with work extending up to 19 hours a day. Intermediaries misappropriate a good part of their payments, which are not given on time. In the case of a big budget movie, a 70-year-old woman who sustained serious burns due to an accident in the set was not provided any money for medical treatment. The junior artists are not admitted into any film organizations.
The lack of a written contract is exploited by some to deprive the actors and technicians of even the remuneration promised orally. An instance cited is of an actress, the title character in a movie, who was forced to do an intimate scene. When she was pressed for more revealing shots, she left the sets without claiming the remuneration for the days she worked. But the director insisted that unless she comes to Kochi personally, he will not delete the intimate scenes already filmed.
The junior artists lack a minimum remuneration. Assistant and associate directors are provided meagre remuneration for working continuously for months. They do not get the daily ‘bhatta’ or subsistence allowance, too. Their work is not clearly defined, while the strenuous pre-production work is not counted as work. One witness cited the case of a woman script writer, who had the theme of gender justice weaved into the script but the director mangled the script so much that the writer was reluctant to take credit.
The Hema Committee notes that an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) can be ineffective as powerful persons can threaten or coerce the ICC members to deal with the complaint in a manner they demand. It also raises doubts about the confidentiality of information revealed to the ICC, if it is constituted with people from the industry, adding to the torture of the complainants. The committee recommends the government to enact an appropriate statute and constitute a Tribunal to address all the issues faced by women in cinema.
According to legal experts in Kerala, the revelations in the report provide sufficient grounds for the government to proceed with a special investigation. Opposition parties, which have criticized the government for delaying the release of the report, have also demanded an investigation led by an all-women team of senior police officers. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has stated that the government would intervene decisively if anyone who testified before the committee comes forward with a complaint against their alleged persecutors.
Meanwhile, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has directed the government to submit the entire committee report in a sealed cover and sought the government’s position on the action to be taken. The case will be heard again on September 10. The release of the redacted report is seen as a partial victory by the WCC, as it has sparked discussions on some of the critical issues they have raised. It could also lead to corrective measures in an industry that is now in the national spotlight for the quality of cinema it consistently produces.
