For years, members of the Kerala Women in Film Collective (WCC) have been fighting the uphill battle to make the film industry a better place for women.
After the Hema Committee’s reports and findings were made public today, the actress Parvati The actress, one of the most active members of the WCC and a leading actress in the film industry, expressed her excitement. She took to Instagram to express her thoughts after the report was published in the public domain.
“I never thought this day would come. Thank you to everyone who stood by us. Believed in us. And to my women. My fellow warriors. Everything we went through was not in vain. In the end, the truth will come out.”
After the report was made public, the WCC’s official website expressed gratitude to the committee. “The sky is full of mysteries; with the twinkling stars and the beautiful moon. But scientific research revealed that the stars do not twinkle and the moon does not look beautiful. The study, therefore, warns: Do not trust what you see, even salt looks like sugar!” Hema Justice Committee Report.”
The note further read, “It has been a long journey for us. We believed that our fight for justice for all women who want a decent professional space in the film industry was the right fight. Today, we feel vindicated. The release of the Hema Committee report is another step that the WCC has taken. This is the first time in the history of cinema that we have a report on how gender functions in the film industry. We thank Justice Hema, Ms. Sarada and Dr. Valsalakumari for the long hours they have put in to create this report.”
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On the conclusions of the Hema Committee:
The long awaited Justice Hema Committee A report into harassment of women in Malaysia’s film industry has recorded explosive accounts of harassment, exploitation and mistreatment of female professionals, and alleged a “criminal gang” was controlling the industry where unyielding women are forced out.
The panel’s report also claimed there was a “nexus of power” consisting of a handful of producers, directors, actors and production controllers.
The Kerala government constituted the panel after the 2017 assault case involving actor Dileep to look into issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality in Malay cinema.
The report released on Monday sheds light on the widespread and persistent sexual harassment faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, with many of them reporting being subjected to unwanted advances even before they started work.
Actresses who are willing to make concessions are given code names, and those who are unwilling to budge are kicked out of the field, the report said.
The copy of the report was provided to the media under the RTI Act after five years of its submission to the government.
In a series of shocking and embarrassing revelations, the report claimed that actresses faced harassment, including instances of their bedroom doors being knocked on by drunken individuals in the film industry.
Many of them, who suffered sexual harassment, were reluctant to report it to the police out of fear, she added.
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