Shocking revelations have been made about the Malayalam film industry. Justice Hema Committee Report came out on Monday. Accordong to PTI, this report talked about the sexual harassment that women are facing in the Malayalam film industry. The report also said that women are offered work with the demand for sexual relations.
Several women made these allegations
Many women have alleged that they were forced to compromise even before starting work. Since then, concerns have increased about the safety of women artists in the Malayalam film industry. Let us tell you that the government constituted the Justice Hema Committee in 2019. The committee studied the issues that women are facing in the Malayalam film industry. Important details of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse of women have been exposed in this report.
Five years after, the report was submitted to the government, a copy of the report was given to the media under the RTI Act. The report says that female artists had to face harassment. This also includes incidents of drunk men knocking on the doors of female artists’ rooms in the film industry.
Women artists are given code names
The report also says that many women who are victims of sexual harassment hesitate to complain to the police due to fear. According to the report, female artists who are ready to compromise are given code names and those who are not ready to compromise are not given work. “Offers of acting or any other work in cinema are given to women with the demand for sexual relations. As I have already told, women are asked to compromise, under which they are asked to have sexual relations,” the report read.
Lack of written contracts is also a big problem in Malayalam Film Industry
The lack of a written contract is used by some to deny performers and professionals of even the remuneration promised orally. An example given is of an actress, the titular character in a film, who was forced to perform an intimate sequence. When she was urged for more revealing photos, she fled the set without claiming her pay for the days worked. However, the director stated that unless she came to Kochi personally, he would not remove the intimate portions that had already been filmed.
The Hema Committee argues that an Internal Complaints Committee can be ineffectual because powerful individuals can threaten or coerce ICC members to handle the complaint in the manner they desire. It also raises concerns regarding the secrecy of information disclosed to the ICC if it is made up of industry insiders, exacerbating the complainants’ ordeal. The committee advises that the government create an appropriate statute and establish a Tribunal to address all of the challenges that women face in cinema.
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