The Hema Committee Report highlighting the malpractices against women in the Malayalam film industry has sparked an outrage. Samantha Ruth Prabhu recently made a demand to the Telangana government to release a sub-committee report originally submitted by The Voice of Women, a support group created for women in the Telugu film industry. In Kolkata, the RG Kar rape-murder case has led to Bangla actors taking to the streets and protesting against the incident as part of the West Bengal Motion Picture Artists’ Forum.
Women’s Forum for Screen Workers in the Bangla film industry has also issued a charter of demands to reinforce the dignity of women in the workplace. It was signed by 50 actors and technicians. At this time when most in Bollywood remain silent, Guneet Monga Kapoor exclusively speaks to News18 Showsha lauding the Women In Cinema Collective (WCC). She says, “More power to WCC and women in Malayalam cinema! It’s incredible what they’ve been able to pull off. But it didn’t happen so easily. There was a terrible incident that happened in 2017 which led to this.”
The WCC includes Parvathy Thiruvothu, Revathy, Anjali Menon, Manju Warrier, and Geethu Mohandas, among others. The Justice K Hema Committee was formed in response to a demand by the WCC, following the 2017 incident involving a female Malayalam actor who was sexually assaulted in a moving vehicle in Kochi. One of the accused in the case was Malayalam actor Dileep.
Guneet points out the ‘genius’ of these women for going ‘straight to the government for a policy impact’ rather than resorting to social media. “They requested the government to intervene and understand what’s actually happening in terms of the level of discrimination, sexual favours and pay disparity going on. I think even the government was shocked with the scale of discrimination or the lack of safety for women happening in the industry,” she states.
Shedding light on the positive consequences that the Hema Committee Report is likely to have, she tells us, “What follows now is unfolding in front of us. It’s important to raise our voices and do it well. Change doesn’t happen with one person screaming at the top of their lungs or one person screaming about atrocities. It happens when a group wants a policy change, safety and toilets on a film set and proper POSH committees to be set up.”
The Oscar-winning producer further adds, “There’s a new film commission report now which forms the basis of what the world order could be in the industry and how to make it a safe space for women. I’m looking forward to those insights. The women at WCC have been able to do it correctly. I hope a policy change and a policy impact happen. That will enforce safety and give rise to better working conditions for women working in media.”
The Hema Committee Report, according to Guneet, is a learning curve. And while her production house already has strict rules about women’s safety in place, she hopes for the whole industry to follow suit. “In Sikhya, there’s a POSH committee. We have conversations before going into each film. We have a process to that. There are toilets on our sets. We live in an echo chamber but that’s not how the rest of the industry is. So, at this point, it’s important to listen, learn, and understand what the world order is going to be,” says Guneet.
Meanwhile, Malayalam superstars Mohanlal and Mammootty have finally broken silence on the Hema Committee Report stating that they’ve welcomed its policies.
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