Shocking revelations have been made about the Malayalam film industry. The report of the Justice Hema Committee came out on Monday. This report mentions the sexual harassment of women in the Malayalam film industry. The report also states that women are given work with the demand for sexual relations. 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.
Hema Committee was formed in the year 2019\
According to PTI, in the report that came out, it was told that the government had constituted the Justice Hema Committee in 2019. The committee studied the issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry. Important information about sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse of women has been revealed 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 said that female artists had to face harassment. This also includes incidents of drunken men in the film industry knocking on the doors of female artists’ rooms.
Female artists are given code names
The report also said 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. The report said, ‘Offers for acting or any other work in cinema are given to women with the demand for sexual relations. As I have already told that women are asked to compromise, under which they are asked to have sexual relations.’
There are no written contracts
The lack of written contracts is also a big problem in the Malayalam film industry. The lack of a written contract is used by some to not pay verbally promised payments to artistes and professionals. An example is of an actress, the lead character in a film, who was forced to perform an intimate scene. When she was asked to perform more intimate scenes, she fled the set without taking her payment for the days she had worked. However, the director said that unless she personally comes to Kochi, he would not remove the intimate portions already filmed.
Demand for legislation
The Hema committee argues that an internal complaints committee may be ineffective as powerful individuals can threaten or force ICC members to settle the complaint the way they want. It also raises concerns about the confidentiality of information given to the ICC if it is composed of industry insiders, further increasing the troubles of complainants. The committee has advised that the government enact a proper law and set up a tribunal to address all the challenges faced by women in cinema.
