It Took A Women’s Collective To Fix The Gender Skew In Malayalam Cinema
For decades, women film workers in the Kerala film industry have been dealing with exploitative work conditions, inequalities and sexual harassment. What shook up the complacent club run by powerful men is a band of tenacious women
In her 2010 autobiography, Kadha Thudarum (the story will continue), the late actor KPAC Lalitha recalled the sexual harassment and bullying she faced at the hands of Adoor Bhasi, an influential actor known for his comic roles in Malayalam films. Sometime in the mid-60s, when he was at the height of his career, Bhasi barged into Lalitha’s home in Chennai in an inebriated state and refused to leave.
“It was getting late, but he had no intention of leaving. He was heavily drunk. His clothes were slipping off, but he was not bothered… He said that if I agreed to surrender to him, I would be offered roles in all his films,” she wrote, adding that his ‘offer’ included a car and a house.
At their wits end, at 4 am, Lalitha and her younger brother Rajan decided to walk for almost an hour to the home of veteran actor Bahadur to seek help. The three managed to get Bhasi to leave but there were consequences to rebuffing him. Lalitha wrote that opportunities began drying up in the Malayalam film industry for her. She filed a petition with the Chennai-based Malayala Chalachitra Parisad, the lone union for Malayalam film workers at that time. But, the Parisad’s then president discouraged her, warning her of severe backlash.
It is now nearly six decades since the incident. But as the findings of the Hema Committee show even today women actors and other women stakeholders in the Kerala film industry are expected to maintain a stoic silence over sexual abuse and misbehaviour from male actors, producers and directors. There were several narratives in the report that spoke of systemic violence, sexual exploitation and unequal working conditions for women in the industry.
The aftermath of the panel’s reports being published – after a wait of nearly five years – has been dramatic. Several women film workers have come up with allegations against male colleagues that range from persistent demands for sexual favours and intimidation to assault and rape. Of these, 18 women have filed complaints of sexual harassment against nine film personalities with a state-constituted special investigation team.
Some of the biggest names in the Malayalam film industry are now being investigated, including actors Siddique, Mukesh and Jayasurya and director Ranjith. A host of lesser known but still significant players in the industry, too were exposed. In the wake of these allegations, Siddique and Ranjith have had to resign from their posts in Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) and the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy respectively. Later, the entire executive committee of AMMA, including its president superstar Mohanlal, resigned, leaving one of the most powerful industry bodies headless.
But it is the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), a very vocal and tenacious band of 18 women from Malayalam cinema, including actor Parvathy Thiruvoth and film editor Bina Paul, who actually drove this dramatic shift. The collective’s work over the last seven years has impacted not just the film industry but the society itself sees the need for a gender just work space.
“They risked their career to fight for justice. The only parallel to this is the protest of the nuns in the Bishop Franco case,” says Rekha Raj, a postdoctoral fellow whose research is focussed on the women’s work participation, representation and gender disparity in Malayalam film industry. She added that the WCC’s campaign came at a high cost to the personal lives and careers of its members.
WCC’s beginnings lie in a shocking and brazen act of violence and intimidation plotted against a young woman actor by a superstar in 2017. She was abducted and sexually assaulted in Kochi reportedly as an act of personal revenge, according to the state police. Two months later, Dileep, a prominent actor-producer in the Malayalam film industry, was arrested by the investigating team on an alleged criminal conspiracy.
The WCC was formed in response to the outrage. One of the first things it did was to meet Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and demand that the government ensure gender justice in the film industry and most importantly guarantee a safe working space for women. In response, the Kerala government constituted a three-member committee headed by retired High Court judge Justice K Hema that year.
The panel’s report was finalised in 2019 but based on a letter from Justice Hema seeking privacy for the survivors, the government decided not to release the report. It was not even tabled in the assembly. It was only recently that the State Information Commissioner A Abdul Hakeem directed to release the report, excluding some portions, to the RTI applicants.
The release of the report is a watershed moment, said Rekha. “Until then, such revelations were subject to public shaming. The Hema committee report gave legal stature to the allegations. The developments will hopefully democratise this industry. However, it is unfortunate that the state government is not acting on the recommendations of the report. Unlike the #metoo allegations, those in the Hema committee report are documented.”
Rekha points out that the gender imbalance is evident at every step and aspect of filmmaking, right from who is served food first on the sets. She also emphasises the need to introduce standard payment for workers in the industry.
Culture of Silence
The media coverage on the Hema committee opened a floodgate of allegations with women suddenly feeling either triggered or empowered by it.
“A culture of silence shrouded Malayalam movies,” observed the Hema Committee report, pointing to a “power nexus” of producers, directors, actors and production controllers. “When sexual harassment is perpetrated by someone in the power nexus, the women are too scared to complain lest they should be ousted not just from that particular movie in which the incident happened but from other movies too thus leading to the termination of their career since the clout of this power nexus is very strong. Men too have been victims of such ouster.”
For its campaign against this mafia, WCC members have been subject to ceaseless trolling on social media and to undeclared boycotts in cinema over the last seven years. In protest against the reinstatement of actor Dileep in AMMA, three WCC members – along with the survivor – left the organisation in 2020. When pejoratives like ‘feminichi‘ were thrown at them, actors like Parvathy and Rima proudly owned them.
WCC founding member and film editor Bina Paul said that the journey of the collective has been tough. “We felt dejected multiple times because of various issues like loss of work. We had our highs and lows. It was also a personal journey for each of us as women and feminists,” she said.
Paul feels that the WCC alone is not enough to take the struggle forward. “It should be a collective effort of the civil society. The government should introduce necessary laws. They can’t continue with a top-to-bottom approach in decision making anymore. Women should be part of the dialogue,” Paul told Behanbox.
Speaking to The News Minute, actor Parvathy said the primary motive of the Hema Committee report was not to name and shame anyone, but to put together the best workplace practices for everyone in the industry.
“There is a notion that women are coming to this industry for fame and money. They (the public) can’t take it seriously that they are actual professionals coming to do work,” she said.
‘I Was Sidelined For Speaking Up’
To understand the power of the men’s club that rules the Malayalam film industry we spoke to veteran actor Usha Haseena, who once bore the brunt of its tyranny.
Usha, known for her work in popular Malayalam films like Kireedam and Kottayam Kunjachan, says that people like her had been talking for ages about the need for reforms in the industry but were always ignored. She points to the fact that even acclaimed actor T Sarada, who was also on the Hema panel, had spoken of the injustices that women in the Malayalam film industry had to deal with.
“Post the 2017 assault case, the public began to actively discuss the safety issues of women in cinema. But even then they were sceptical about the accounts of survivors. Formation of the Hema Committee was the best thing the government did,” she says.
Usha, whose film career spans 40 years, says that she lost work for hurting the ego of a mega star with her directness.
“I never feared raising my voice against any kind of injustice. I started losing work by the mid-2000s. [At the time] I wasn’t aware of any conspiracy behind this but in 2006, I was told that there had been some intervention. I informed the then AMMA president, [the actor] Innocent, about it. He said he had checked with the people concerned and they denied any role in it. He also assured me that no one would deny me work. But I was again removed from a role I was promised. The movie director later apologised for this,” she says.
Haseena has alleged that the superstar Mammootty was behind her being sidelined in the industry. Her experience validates an observation in the Hema Committee report which said: “No man nor woman dare to utter any word which may offend anyone belonging to the power group, because such a person will be wiped off the industry by the powerful lobby.”
But Haseena decided to move on with her life. “I knew Mappila songs and I eked out a living by running an arts troupe. My vappa (father) has given me the courage to live so I have never apologised to anyone or compromised myself,” she says.
Perpetrators vs Survivors
Following intense criticism, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has formed a special investigation team, which consists of four women IPS officers, to conduct a probe into the allegations.
Based on a complaint by a young actor, the police have filed an FIR against actor Siddique under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation). Mukesh is facing charges under IPC sections 376(1) (rape), 354 ( outraging modesty of woman), 452 (house trespass), 506 (criminal intimidation). And IPC sections 354 (outraging modesty of woman), 354 A (request for sexual favours), 509 (words, gestures, or acts that intend to insult a woman’s modesty) were slapped against actor Jayasurya.
“As per the law, the privacy of survivors has to be maintained. But why protect the perpetrators?” asks actor and social activist Jolly Chirayath, pointing to the large portions of the report that have been redacted. “Many, even those who deposed before the committee, have questions about where the government’s loyalty lies.”
Chirayath is of the view that the survivors should not be forced to file a complaint in order to get justice. “How can someone prove an attempt to rape? Do we all keep the clothes they touched, or their semen or pubic hair? Law needs proof. If the case fails, the men will come back even more powerful. What will be the fate of these women who complained?” she asks.
The Great Divide
Based on an assurance given by the state government, several women, especially junior artists from poor financial backgrounds, came forward with revelations of sexual abuse and harassment. Chirayath says that it was the political and moral responsibility of the government to keep the momentum.
“Often it is the people who have nothing left to lose who are the first to make a sacrifice. The film industry has multiple work spaces and employers. Their experience on each set will be different. So when these hapless people are perpetually seeking good opportunities, they do not have the option to complain,” she says.
Althea, a women’s collective in Kerala, recently submitted a petition to the state’s labour department demanding that the cinema industry be re-positioned as a profit-oriented and labour-utilising sector. They demanded the implementation of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) at Workplace Act of 2013 on film sets for both women and transgender persons, equal pay for equal work and reservation for women in work opportunities.
As per a report by the New Indian Express, the state labour minister V Sivankutty responded with the statement that unlike technicians, artistes do not come under the purview of labour laws.
The government’s priority should be to perceive the film industry as a professional workspace, said Chirayath. “Standardised work hours, fixed pay, payment for overtime work, mechanisms like Internal Complaints Committee and monitoring of the Local Complaints Committee etc should be ensured in this workspace. Government should not act like helpless individuals. If there is an absence of law, they should introduce it. We are a society which fought for the rights to enter temples, walk on public roads and access education,” says Chirayath.
Last year, the Kerala High Court, based on the petition of the WCC, asked production houses to introduce internal committees on sets. But the Hema committee report also points to the futility of such measures given the tight control exercised by powerful men in the industry.
An important topic which remains unaddressed is the absence of the Dalit community in the film industry, says Rekha. “It is an industry of a privileged class and dominant castes. Exclusion of a section of men and women in such a powerful industry is a matter that needs to be addressed,” she points out. The history of women in Malayalam cinema begins with Dalit actress PK Rosy, who had to flee her home because upper caste men were offended that she played a Nair woman in the 1930 silent film, Vigathakumaran.
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