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Journalism of Courage
Working an “ordinary job” — is what a 32-year-old woman actor has been doing for the past two years, after her deposition before the three-member Justice K Hema Committee which looked into the working condition of women in the Kerala film industry. With six years of acting experience, she says the industry has shut its doors on her since she spoke up.
The Hema Committee, formed in 2017, had submitted its report to the Kerala state government in 2019. While successive governments held back the report arguing that its release might “compromise the privacy” of those who testified before the committee, the contents were finally revealed, five years later, following the intervention of the Kerala High Court. The court ordered for the release of the report with certain redactions.
“I felt happy,” says the 32-year-old. “At least my struggle has not gone wasted.”
The actor says she was ostracised for reporting a colleague’s sexual advances. “Ever since I reported the incident, I was systematically deprived of work in the industry. The deposition before the committee only worsened the boycott, to the point that I had to leave the film industry,” she told The Indian Express. When asked if anyone tried to bring her back, she says, “I was told there’s no market for me as an actor”.
Similar has been the experience of several women artistes and technicians who have been associated with the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), a grouping of women in the film industry who came together in the aftermath of the rape of a leading woman actor in Kochi in 2017.
Many of them say they were treated as “troublemakers” and denied work as they openly spoke about the need to make the Malayalam film industry a better working space for women and other deprived groups.
“It has been a tough journey. In the collective we have all faced the accusation that we talk too much, that we are stirring up trouble and that we are creating problems when there are none,” says Bina Paul, senior editor in the Malayalam film industry and a founding member of the WCC.
Paul says the struggle of the loose collective of women has been for an equitable working space. “I do not want to be known as a woman editor alone. I am a film editor. There should be a space for all of us (women) to be looked at as any other professional,” she says, adding the Malayalam film industry, which is known for some path-breaking films in the recent past, has a long way to go when it comes to gender justice.
The Hema Committee report attests to this — it lists out at least 17 broad issues that plague the Malayalam film industry. The report reads, “We find that generally women in cinema face a lot of issues, including sexual demands made to women for the very entry into cinema and for getting chance to work in cinema…sexual harassment, abuse, assault against women at workplace, transportation, places of accommodation etc…Torture of women if they express their resentment or unwillingness to sexual demands.”
The report adds that there is a prevalence of “unauthorised banning of individuals working in cinema in different categories…Silencing of women under threat of ban from work in cinema…”
According to the report, 32 of 40 WCC members had filled out the questionnaire which was sent to them in 2017, and several held discussions with the committee, in group and individually.
But before all this, the WCC’s journey had started with strife.
The organisation’s roots can be traced back to a group of women actors who walked out of an existing film body — the Association of Malayalam Movie Actors (AMMA) — in 2017. AMMA has the membership of several leading actors, including superstars Mohanlal and Mammootty. Mohanlal is the president of the body.
Among those who walked out of AMMA were leading women actors Rima Kallingal, Geetu Mohandas and Ramya Nambeesan. The women actors were protesting against AMMA’s refusal to oust a male actor who was accused of conspiring and orchestrating the 2017 rape of the woman actor, who was also a member of the body. At a press conference held shortly after, the actors had outlined the systemic harassment that plagues the industry.
The WCC continues to remain an organisation without hierarchy — there are no office bearers though there is a core committee to keep the body functional.
Padmapriya Janakiraman, one of the actors who was part of the 2017 protest against AMMA’s inaction, says they were treated as women who were just concocting stories and creating a ruckus. But for others, “that walkout was iconic”.
“A lot of us were inspired by the women who stood up for their colleague,” a woman actor who later joined WCC says.
Another actor, Maala Parvathi, who stayed with AMMA even after WCC was formed, says, “It must have taken a lot of courage for the women to do what they did. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for your rights. We, as outsiders, were in awe”.
While the WCC’s stated aim is to work “towards building a safe, non-discriminatory and professional workspace for women in cinema through advocacy and policy change,” the body has achieved more than it aimed for.
“WCC made gender a talking point in the industry,” says Paul. Padmapriya says WCC’s role has been to clarify that there is a “systemic problem” in the industry in which grievances “have no system of recourse”.
In the process, WCC members had managed to upset cinema’s rigid power structures — even in AMMA, women began to question authority. “Some of us even walked out of AMMA’s Internal Committee in protest,” says Maala Parvathi.
Even if grudgingly, women’s issues began to be openly spoken of — restrooms on cinema sets, accommodation for women actors and crew, and changing rooms. Non-contractual work or payment deficits too became a talking point. Even the Hema Committee report referred to a select few — a “power group” — who controlled the industry.
However, the price for speaking up has been high, say WCC members. Paul says women actors and technicians are “scared” to be branded WCC members. “There are a lot of women who stand close to us but are scared to join us for fear of losing opportunities in the industry,” she says. “There were times when people tried to make us feel guilty about asking for our rights. But that only added to our confidence as individuals, ” Padmapriya adds.
Now, the WCC is bracing to fight its next battle — implementation of the Hema Committee report. The report recommends, among other measures, the formation of a tribunal to legally fight cases filed by women in cinema. “We are ready to work with the government in implementing the recommendations of the Hema Committee, ” says actor Sajitha Madathil, adding that there is a need to address another pressing issue — of artistes and technicians losing their jobs for speaking out.
