Aattam actor Zarin Shihab reveals people are complaining they have to ‘police’ behaviour after Hema Committee report: ‘It’s bare minimum you can do’

Zarin Shihab, who plays the sole female lead in Aattam—the multiple National Award-winning drama thriller which sharply examines sexual assault and the hypocrisy of men—spoke to Indianexpress.com about the recent revelations of the Justice Hema Committee, calling it a necessary point in film history to put in place tight “scrutiny” and stricter “rules”.

Edited excerpts:

The Justice Hema Committee report has brought back the spotlight on women’s safety on film sets. In what ways can we ensure a safe space?

The situation has been improving but the pace has been slow, which is disappointing. But there is hope. Five years ago when a script was pitched to me, I could never question how the story progressed or my character evolved. Now, they want me to actively engage with it, and suggest changes.

What will help is also more structure. The film industry is seen as an informal workspace. There’s a certain laxity of rules because people are working in such close quarters and they need to see rules as an essential part to make the work experience smoother and equitable, not as an impediment.

A lot of the reactions I’m seeing right now is like, ‘Oh now we can’t react a certain way, we have to constantly police our behavior.’ You should absolutely do that, which is the bare minimum you can do. Just because you are used to always being in a position of advantage, suddenly when you flip the scale, they go like, ‘No no!’ I want to ask them— how do you think we felt? Unless they’ve been in an oppressed position, they wouldn’t be able to understand. Provision for safety need to be there.

When you say five years ago you couldn’t question how a character developed, what does that mean?

When you were offered something, you were supposed to accept it with just gratitude and nothing else; submit completely to the demands of the makers. Right now, they encourage involvement, want to hear your voice and what you bring to the table. That challenges you creatively as well. Earlier, you were following orders, but now you have the power to make a decision.

Post Me Too in the Hindi film industry, the horror stories one would hear more often earlier seems to have gone down. Is this where the Malayalam film industry would be headed later?

The more we dig up information, the more messed up things we will hear. It’s good that these are finally coming out because I believe it helps newcomers to know what happens here and be better prepared. It may not be ideal, but (till it doesn’t get better) one might as well take precautions. It’s not that the quality of films went down after Me Too cases came out. Films and interesting ideas will keep coming. There should be scrutiny. You can’t have ‘brilliance’ just unbridled out there, without any scrutiny.