The Hema committee report slams Malayalam-language film industry

A landmark report into issues confronted by girls within the Malayalam-language movie business has revealed the deep rot in one among India’s hottest movie hubs.

The findings of the three-member panel are fairly damning.

The 290-page report – elements of which have been redacted to cover identities of survivors and people accused of wrongdoing – says the business is dominated by “a mafia of highly effective males” and that “sexual harassment of ladies is rampant”.

Headed by a former choose of the Kerala Excessive Courtroom and arrange by the state authorities in 2017, the Hema committee particulars the abysmal working circumstances on units – together with an absence of bathrooms and altering rooms for junior artists, no meals and water for them, poor pay and no lodging or transport services.

“There aren’t any bathrooms, so girls must go within the bushes or behind thick timber. Throughout their intervals, not having the ability to change their sanitary napkins for lengthy hours and holding urine for lengthy causes bodily discomfort and makes them sick, in some instances needing hospitalisation,” it says.

The report, which was submitted to the federal government in December 2019, was made public solely this week after practically 5 years of delay and a number of authorized challenges by members of the movie business.

The panel was arrange within the aftermath of the horrific sexual assault on a number one actress within the movie business. Bhavana Menon, who has labored in additional than 80 movies in southern Indian languages and received plenty of prestigious awards, was assaulted by a bunch of males whereas travelling from Thrissur to Kochi in February 2017.

Her assault made headlines, particularly after Dileep, one of many Malayalam-language movie business’s largest actors and Menon’s co-star in half a dozen movies, was named as an accused and charged with prison conspiracy. He denied the costs, however was arrested and held in custody for 3 months earlier than being launched on bail. The case continues to be heard in courtroom.

Indian regulation bars identification of survivors of sexual assault, however it was recognized from the beginning that it was Ms Menon who had been assaulted. In 2022, she waived her anonymity in a publish on Instagram and in an interview to the BBC.

Just a few months after the assault on Ms Menon, Ladies in Cinema Collective (WCC) – a group fashioned by a few of her colleagues in a movie business recognized for its number of profitable mainstream and critically acclaimed movies – petitioned the federal government, in search of swift motion within the case and likewise to handle the issues confronted by girls in cinema.

Within the report, retired Justice Okay Hema says the WCC instructed her that “girls are being silenced because the status of the movie business must be upheld”.

The panel interviewed a number of dozen women and men, together with artists, producers, administrators, scriptwriters, cinematographers, hairstylists, make-up artists and costume designers, and “gathered proof together with video and audio clips and WhatsApp messages”.

Describing sexual harassment because the “worst evil” girls in cinema face, the report mentioned the panellists noticed proof that “sexual harassment stays shockingly rampant” and that “it goes on unchecked and uncontrolled”.

The business “is managed by a bunch of male actors, producers, distributors, exhibitors and administrators who’ve gained huge fame and wealth” they usually have been among the many perpetrators, it added.

“Males in business make open calls for for intercourse with none qualms as if it’s their birthright. Ladies are left with little or no choices however to oblige – or reject at the price of their lengthy awaited dream of pursuing cinema as their occupation.

“The experiences of many ladies are actually surprising and of such gravity that they haven’t disclosed the main points even to their shut relations.”

Lots of the folks the panel approached have been initially reluctant to talk as a result of “they have been afraid they might lose their jobs”.

“To start with, we discovered their concern unusual however as our examine progressed we realised it was well-founded. We’re involved about their and their shut kin’ security.”

The report, the WCC says, has vindicated its stand. “For years, we’ve been saying that there’s a systemic drawback within the business. Sexual harassment is only one of them. This report proves it,” Beena Paul, an award-winning editor and one of many founding members of the WCC, instructed the BBC.

“We have been all the time instructed that we have been troublemakers [for raising such issues]. This report proves that it [the condition] is way worse than what even we thought,” she mentioned.

Members of the WCC say they’ve confronted issue in getting work since they started demanding higher working circumstances on movie units. “Folks don’t like the truth that we’re asking questions. So, fairly a number of members have confronted troublesome conditions,” Ms Paul says.

The Affiliation of Malayalam Film Artists (AMMA), a prime business physique which counts superstars like Mohanlal and Mamooty amongst its members, denied the accusations. Its normal secretary Siddique disagreed that there was a small, highly effective group that managed the business.

He additionally denied that sexual harassment was rampant within the business and mentioned that a lot of the complaints they obtained have been concerning the delay or an absence of cost for staff. He mentioned circumstances for girls had improved on movie units previously 5 years and all services have been now obtainable to them.

Within the week since its launch, the report has created ripples within the state, with activists and outstanding opposition leaders demanding motion in opposition to these accused of wrongdoing.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan mentioned if any lady who testified earlier than the committee got here ahead to file a grievance, the federal government would take motion. “Irrespective of how large they’re, they are going to be introduced earlier than the regulation,” he mentioned.

On Thursday, a public curiosity petition was filed within the Kerala Excessive Courtroom, in search of initiation of prison proceedings in opposition to these accused within the report.

The courtroom ordered the federal government to submit a replica of the report and the judges mentioned they might determine if prison motion wanted to be taken as soon as that they had learn it.

Allegations of harassment and abuse in movies usually are not new in India – in 2018, the #MeToo motion hit the nation’s hottest movie business Bollywood after actress Tanushree Dutta accused veteran actor Nana Patekar of behaving inappropriately in the direction of her on a movie set in 2008. Patekar denied the allegations.

Ms Dutta, who has since claimed that she has been denied work, described the Hema committee report as “ineffective”, including that earlier stories about making workplaces safer for girls had not helped.

Parvathy Thiruvothu, an award-winning actress and a key member of the WCC, nonetheless, instructed Asianet information channel that she thought-about the discharge of the report “a victory”.

“It’s opened up a door for giant adjustments throughout the business,” she mentioned.

Jeo Child, director of The Nice Indian Kitchen, a critically-acclaimed movie that examines the patriarchal construction throughout the household, instructed the BBC that whereas gender points stay a priority, change is underneath approach within the business. “That is the best time to appropriate this. The movie business has to battle this collectively.”

The report, which has made a number of suggestions to make the business a protected place for girls, says their inquiry and proposals are to not discover fault with any particular person, however “an earnest try to ennoble a occupation in order that it turns into a viable profession possibility for aspiring artists and technicians, each female and male”.

“Hopefully filmmaking will turn out to be so protected that folks can ship their daughters and sons to the occupation with the identical confidence and sense of safety as they ship their youngsters to an engineering agency or a university,” it provides.