‘Why are we treated as sex workers?’: Women recount stories of sexual misconduct in Kerala film industry

With the release of the Justice K Hema Committee report, which looked into the issues faced by women in Malayalam cinema, setting off a storm of accusations, cases of rape and criminal intimidation have been filed against some of the big names in the industry, among them actor Siddique, who had to step down as general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), CPI(M) MLA and actor Mukesh, and director Ranjith.

Much of the focus so far has been on the all-powerful AMMA that represents the actors — on August 27, the 17-member executive committee of the association stepped down from the posts. But beyond the big names and their bigger reputations, there are countless stories of sexual misconduct in the industry. With the cloak of silence that had enveloped the industry for far too long slowly lifting, voices such as Manisha’s have finally found an expression.

Horror, recounted

Manisha, who made it to the industry from a small village in Kottarakkara in Kollam district, says the first instance of harassment she faced was in 2014, five years after she started off as a hairstylist. A senior make-up man had told her to come to his room “after taking a shower”. “I went to his room with a male make-up assistant.

The man was furious that I brought someone with me and started harassing me at work from the very next day,” she says, adding that the harassment included denying her transport and accusing her of doing sub-par work.

“We were once shooting at a remote location and it was 11.30 pm by the time I finished work. I was stranded and had no vehicle to go back. I started crying and finally, a production controller helped me get a vehicle,” she says.

Manisha says she confronted the make-up artist over a phone call, making sure she recorded the call. “I asked him what he wanted from me and he openly said he wanted sex,” she alleges. She says that while she approached FEFKA (the Film Employees Federation of Kerala, a body that represents the technical crew – directors, assistant directors, cinematographers, costume designers, and make-up artists, among others) to raise issues of sexual harassment in the industry, her grievances were never addressed. Since then, Manisha says, she has been struggling to get work in the film industry.

When asked about the allegations, FEFKA general secretary B Unnikrishnan told The Indian Express that “no complaint which has come to FEFKA has gone unanswered”. No one has lost work because of raising complaints, he added.

FEFKA is a federation with 21 affiliated unions and 63 members who make up its general council. “In most cases, unions affiliated to FEFKA deal with the complaints internally. But now we are going to insist that all complaints of sexual harassment should be referred to FEFKA for adjudication. We think police complaints should be lodged whenever such cases come about,” Unnikrishnan insisted.

In its report, the Hema committee notes that until recently, women make-up artists were discriminated against and did not get work identity cards from their union. Manisha is among 40 hairstylists and women make-up artists who are card holders of the FEFKA-affiliated All Kerala Cine Make-up Artists and Hair Stylists Union. But there are many more women who work as make-up artists but are not recognised as such by the union.

Men continue to dominate the field — there are around 150-odd male make-up artists recognised by FEFKA. While the chief make-up artists — almost always men — get Rs 5,000 a day, hairstylists and junior make-up artists are paid a paltry sum of Rs 1,800 a day.

“Till last year, only the men could be ‘make-up’ artists; women who worked as assistants to make-up men were called hairstylists. It’s after decades of fighting for our rights that we began to be recognised for our work,” says Manisha.

In May this year, after 15 years in the industry, Manisha got her work ID from the union recognising her as a make-up artist. But it may have come too late. “I don’t think I can remain in this industry for much longer,” she says.

In another part of Kochi, in Palarivattom, another make-up artist agrees to speak, but on the strict condition that she not be named. She says she joined the industry in the 1990s and that while the unsteady timings and long hours meant that work was always tough, things took a turn for the worse after she resisted sexual advances from male members of the team.

The sole caregiver for her elderly mother and an ailing sister, she says life has been tough. “I now barely get work once a year.” She says that while they usually put up with minor indiscretions and instances of sexism on the sets, her worst nightmare came true one night in a hotel room where the crew were staying. “I woke up at night and saw a man wearing a black lungi sitting by the side of my bed. I ran out of the room screaming. I was told I was imagining things but I lodged a police complaint,” she says.

She adds it is common for male members of the crew to knock on their doors at night to demand sexual favours. “It has happened a couple of times, but I have never opened the door because of fear. Once I looked through the peephole and found the producer at the door,” she says.

Another make-up artist spoke of how she has been without work since September 2023, when she accused a senior make-up artist of sexual assault. “I was sitting in the room designated for hairstylists when this senior make-up man walked in, bolted the door from inside and started talking in an inappropriate manner. When I asked him to leave, he tried to grab me. I somehow escaped,” she wrote in a complaint to the union.

She says that following her complaint, the accused, an office bearer of the union, was asked to stay away from work for a year. “While he came back to work after a year, I have been sitting at home without any job opportunities,” she wrote in her complaint. “I joined the film industry after a lot of struggles, but now it is over for me,” she says.

Beyond the stories of harassment, women working on the sets — from hairstylists to assistant directors and directors — talk of the numerous instances of everyday belittlement that they endure. A woman director told The Indian Express that she was once mistaken for a “hairstylist” on a film set. “People just couldn’t believe that a woman could be a director,” she says. And once her film came out, she says, many expressed incredulity that she could have shot “all of it”.

“It was unbelievable that a woman could shoot certain sequences without the help of her male counterparts,” she says.

A woman assistant director, who has been working in the industry for two years, says it is common for those in the fraternity to “ask for sexual favours” from them. “You work as an assistant director thinking that some day you will get to make a film of your own. They crush this dream by asking for sexual favours,” she says.

Another assistant director said even actors dictate terms to them. “There is no protection or mechanism by which we can stop people from trampling all over us,” she says.

As the Hema Committee report noted, exploitation is rampant given the power dynamics in the industry. The harassment, the report says, takes multiple forms — from seeking sexual favours to handing out bans to those who don’t toe the line.

Director Vinayan, a top filmmaker, who faced an “unofficial” ban for 12 years, says both men and women technicians face harassment because the industry “still works like an unorganised sector” without any controls.

Vinayan says he first faced trouble when he had a tiff with AMMA — while he wanted to implement work contracts between actors and producers, AMMA was not in favour of the same. “I still remember how some members of AMMA, including senior actors, met in a hotel room and ruled that I should be kept away from the industry. That decree holds till today,” Vinayan alleges.

Another director who is part of FEFKA said the association is facing a lot of internal strife ever since the Hema committee report came out. “A large section of FEFKA is close to AMMA. We are affected by the strife in AMMA,” the director said. FEFKA has, meanwhile, called for a meeting in Kochi on August 31 to address issues of sexual harassment raised by its women members.

What next?

In a residential area on the outskirts of Kochi, news of the Hema Committee report blares out from television sets inside homes. “It’s all that people are talking about now,” says a make-up artist. While the report has helped those in the industry square up to cinema’s darkest secrets, many feel the present situation will eventually amount to little unless the industry is overhauled completely.

“From AMMA to FEFKA and smaller unions, everyone needs to rethink how women — and some men — are treated in the industry. This should be a moment of reckoning and there should be deep changes,” says Manisha.

Senior film editor Bina Paul had earlier told The Indian Express that “systemic changes” have to be brought in the film industry to make it a gender-friendly space safe for both men and women.

Screenwriter Deedi Damodaran says, “Cinema has to be treated as any other workplace. There should be clear work contracts and clear terms of employment in cinema which will make harassment illegal. What is illegal in any workplace should be illegal in cinema too.”