Malayalam actress Parvathy Thiruvothu has spoken on the Justice Hema Committee Report that has caused a stir in the entertainment industry.
In an interview with NDTV, Parvathy spoke about the report and said how she isn't happy with it and that it is "extremely bitter-sweet for us".
"The sense of achievement is extremely bitter-sweet for us, mainly because the first deposition happened sometime in 2018 and the report was submitted sometime in 2019. It took so many years for it to come out. The redacted version of it. In these years, we have had to really beg and grovel and fight. Allies were from the public and from media, who had to join this fight and say ‘Wait, why are you keeping it from us? Why is it not coming out?'”
“There was also a certain sensationalising on it. Whereas, [Justice] Hema Commission report is a study of malpractices in the film industry, which will help us (about) why was it formed and why was the report generated so that work towards forming better workplace culture, workplace practices that is government defined so that nobody would go against the law. Now, I think, sometimes is lost on people, when they think on the [Justice] Hema Commission. They are more focused on the sensationalising aspects of it. So, it is currently still a struggle for us to throw the focus back on to the picture and say, ‘No no no, let us put our mind and hearts to what the matter is at hand’,” she further said.
Parvathy recently won Best Actress for Ullozhukku at the International Film Festival of Melbourne.
Parvathy said that it is time to speak up about findings in the Hema Committee.
She further pointed out that the Hema Committee report in not an “expose” about the Malayalam film industry, there are certain things which are wrong and they needed to be highlighted.
She said: "The places where you don't hear anything about, that's where we should be worried about”.
The Hema Committee report on atrocities against women in the Malayalam film industry has sparked furore in Kerala's social and political circles. While the opposition Congress party slammed the Left government and demanded action against the culprits, the high court has sought that the report be submitted in a sealed cover.
Justic Hema Committee Report
The Justice K Hema Committee was formed after the 2017 sexual assault on an actress, involving actor Dileep, to study issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality in Malayalam cinema.
A censored report of The Justice Hema Committee's findings was released on August 19, which has recorded explosive accounts of harassment, exploitation, and ill-treatment of female professionals in the film industry, and has triggered a political storm in Kerala.
Meanwhile, Kerala Women's Commission Chairperson P Sathidevi, while reacting to the Kerala High Court's decision to implead the Commission in the matter, said it will ensure that women can work with dignity in all fields. She too, however, expressed the inability of the Commission to file a case.
The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), a grouping of women in the movie industry that strongly opposes the atrocities against women and stands with survivors, expressed hope that the report is examined with the gravity it deserves so that the misogyny in the profession is understood.
Earlier, the publication of the censored report, which was to be released on July 24, was put on hold by the Kerala High Court on a plea moved by a Malayalam film producer.
Subsequently, the HC dismissed the plea on August 13 and directed the government to make the report public within a week from then.
However, the publication was again delayed over an actress's plea heard by the HC on August 19. The division bench of the high court referred the case to a single bench, which did not entertain the multiple petitions.
Subsequently, the government released the report on Monday.
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