The Hema Committee report has caused a whirlwind in Malayalam cinema and society, but if the report is to bring about lasting change, it must be seen as something more than an exposé on the industry. One must look at the report as an opportunity to create conditions that will make the industry more inclusive of women and prevent workplace harassment.
After the release of the report, public discussions have mainly focused on sexual violence and criminal proceedings. This inevitably leads to talk and speculation about individual perpetrators and survivors. Criminal proceedings are important and vital for those who have suffered sexual violence, should they wish to proceed along those lines. But such proceedings are inevitably lengthy and require a high burden of proof. Focussing on this aspect alone is a red herring that takes the focus away from the real problem. And, as a society, we are in danger of missing the wood for the trees.
Rather than reduce the issue to individual allegations of assault, we must start a serious conversation on the conditions that allow men to wield such power in film industries everywhere and the many manifestations of this.
State of affairs
The committee’s mandate was to broadly examine the extent of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry. The committee, composed exclusively of women, was constituted in 2017 following a high-profile assault on a female Malayalam actor, after which the film star Dileep was accused of orchestrating the assault.
The proceedings against Dileep are still ongoing seven years after the incident, highlighting the difficulty and delay in bringing cases of sexual assault to trial in the country. While the Hema Committee report was submitted to the State government at the end of 2019, it took a considerable lag of five years until its release in the public domain. While the government cites reasons like confidentiality of witness testimonies for the delay, nothing stood in the way of it releasing a redacted report, as was eventually done.
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The primary significance of the report is that, for the first time, it brought on public record a microcosm of the daily reality of gender inequality and oppression of women in the film industry. While discrimination is a daily battle for Indian women everywhere, we still need to recognise and document its extent and nature in individual industries as the first step towards stopping it.
Structural deficiencies
In this regard, the report has ignited a public discourse on the structural deficiencies in movie sets and other cinema spaces that overwhelmingly disfavour women. It is important to acknowledge that this is an extension of the overall patriarchal social structure that cinema is a part of. Discrimination against the girl child begins at home, with the world strictly policing every aspect of her being, including her career, marriage, and sexuality. As the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says in her book We Should All Be Feminists: “We make them [girls] feel as though being born female they are already guilty of something.”
“An industry that generates thousands of crores of rupees in revenue annually has been allowed to function without adequate regulations in place.”
The report has also created ripple effects in other movie industries. There have been demands to constitute similar committees and initiate studies in other film industries too. In an ideal world, the Hema Committee report must act as a catalyst for change across film industries nationwide.
Yet, for all these encouraging signs, the response of the film industry, barring a few exceptions, has been disheartening. Some people have reacted by saying that the report will disrupt the film industry or that it has brought disrepute to it. Unfortunately, some prominent actors commented that “cinema must survive”, as if addressing sexism and harassment in the film industry constitutes an existential threat or as though cinema can survive only if sexism and harassment exist.
Power group in Malayalam cinema
One of the most widespread allegations in the context of the report is that there exists a power group in Malayalam cinema, where a few male actors control all major aspects of most films, especially casting. Instead of addressing this problem, there has been a continuous and blanket denial of the allegation.
The actor Siddique, general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, speaking to mediapersons on the Hema Committee report in Kochi on August 23. On August 27, all 17 members of its executive committee resigned amid growing allegations of sexual assault and misbehaviour against its members. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
In an industry that reflects the patriarchal external society, the existence of such a group is a very real possibility. It allows the suppression of dissent and the exclusion of women who raise legitimate grievances in filmmaking—to which several women from the industry attest—and is testimony to how vindictive the system can be. The exclusion of talented members belonging to the Women in Cinema Collective, a pressure group of women in Malayalam cinema, is a case in point. Instead of misidentifying the problem or reducing it to allegations and counter statements, the focus must be on the larger ambit of resolutions and on the future of cinema.
In cinema, women are often paid less compared with their male co-workers even when they play comparable roles. Female actors are discouraged from remaining in the industry after they cross their 30s, whereas men are allowed to continue well into their 60s and 70s. On the sets, women lack basic sanitation facilities and changing rooms. The problems are graver for those women who work at the bottom of the hierarchy, such as junior artistes, make-up artists, costume designers, and assistants.
Highlights
- The primary significance of the report is that it brought on public record a microcosm of the daily reality of gender inequality and oppression of women in the film industry.
- The report has also created ripple effects in other movie industries. There have been demands to constitute similar committees and initiate studies in other film industries too.
- It is time we broke the male cult culture and made both cinema and the film industry more gender-sensitive and accommodative.
Lack of regulation
These forms of gender discrimination are facilitated by the lack of regulation of the private labour market. Thus, in a shooting location, there is no mandate in the form of written contracts, timely and fair payments, or humane working conditions. This puts vulnerable actors, especially women and junior employees, at the mercy of the producers. Overcoming this problem needs radical and structural change in the way the film industry functions. All aspects ranging from job profiles to payments must be governed by clear, written contracts.
The Women in Cinema Collective has demanded such formalisation as a step towards addressing injustices. While it is true that cinema is largely a loose industry, with wide regional disparities, there is no reason why a uniform nationwide structure and uniform laws cannot be created to protect women’s rights.
It is quite extraordinary that an industry that generates thousands of crores of rupees in revenue every year has been allowed to function without adequate regulations in place and without legal oversight. Workplace conditions are left to the autonomy of every individual movie production, which is something that one would rarely see in any other industry.
Prohibition of discrimination
Quite uniquely in the Constitution, discrimination is prohibited not only in public but in private spaces as well. Article 15(2) is quite emphatic when it makes this proclamation. The task now is to examine how the government will integrate this constitutional obligation by putting in place a comprehensive legislation or code to regulate workplace behaviour in cinema.
As far as sexual assault is concerned, the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Kerala government has launched investigations and first information reports have been already registered.
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The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, is in place to address precisely these issues. An Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), mandated by the Act, is a body that aggrieved women can approach. The structure of the ICCs must ensure that they are free from interference and from the influence of employers and perpetrators.
It is not clear if such ICCs exist or function independently in film industries across the country. The issue, therefore, is that the law exists, but its provisions are not adequately implemented, and no penalties are imposed on the film industry.
While the government has a crucial task ahead, one must also recognise how audiences, journalists, and cinema artistes themselves can help create an atmosphere that is less sexist and more sensitive. The “hero worship” culture—invariably of a male hero—must give way to equal recognition for male and female artistes. For instance, a film reviewer describing Kaathal: The Core as the “upcoming Jyothika and Mammootty film” rather than “the new Mammootty film” can be part of a larger cultural shift.
It is time we broke the male cult culture and made both cinema and the film industry more gender-sensitive and accommodative. It is the dismantling of hierarchical structures and power groups that will enable equality to thrive and flourish.
Thulasi K. Raj is a lawyer at the Supreme Court of India.
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