The publicly available version of the Justice Hema committee report does not reveal names of alleged perpetrators of sexual harassment and violence it recorded, but filmmaker Jude Anthany Joseph believes the names should be made public.
Joseph, who directed the Malayalam film 2018 which was India’s official entry for Best International Feature Film in the 96th Academy Awards, says, “The complaints should be seriously looked into by the government and there should be action against whoever has been named. They haven’t revealed the names, but I think they should reveal the names of people against whom there are complaints.”
Joseph worries, “People think the entire [Malayalam film] industry is like that. Such a perception affects people like me too.” He adds that three of the four films he has made—Sara’s (2021) Oru Muthassi Gadha (2016), Ohm Shanthi Oshaana (2014)—have been about the right of women to make their own choices.
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The Justice Hema Committee was formed in 2017 following the alleged abduction and sexual assault of a woman actor working in the Malayalam film industry. The committee made its report public seven years after the incident on August 19. The 233-page report says that “a culture of sexual harassment pervades the Malayalam film industry”.
Talking about how he deals with complaints of harassment on sets, Joseph shares, “Once an actor complained about an assistant director on my set. She said the assistant director had started messaging her saying he has developed a soft corner for her and things like that. I threw the assistant director out the same day the actor made the complaint and he was never part of my set again.”
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He further says, “I always try to give people the freedom to come and complain to me if they are uncomfortable, be it a lead actor, a technician or a junior artist.” In order to ensure that women in film sets are able to work freely, Joseph suggests, “There should be a member of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) or a similar committee at every film set ensuring women working on that film feel safe and protected.”
Asked how male filmmakers and actors can be better allies of their female counterparts, Joseph says, “I can say that I listen to every complaint on my set, irrespective of it coming from a man or woman. We are all civilised people. It is not very difficult.” He adds, “Things like this happen across industries. The film industry is just more under the media glare. I worked in [the] IT [Information Technology] industry, and I had heard such stories in that industry too. Irrespective of industry, there should be a way to punish people who engage in such acts, and the punishment should be both legal and professional. Such people should not get a chance to make a film, produce a film or act in a film.”
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On the impact of the Justice Hema committee report on the Malayalam film industry, the 41-year-old says, “There should be more conversation on these issues. I think it is a good thing that such conversations are being triggered. That will be better for both cinema and the industry. ”
