Why National Award for Aattam and Justice Hema committee report’s release are silver lining in our dark times

Another Malayalee, Miriam Chandy Menacherry has won the National Award for Best Non-Feature Film Direction for her documentary film From the Shadows, on missing girls and girl child sex trafficking. The non-fiction film follows photographer-artist-activist Leena Kejriwal and her The Missing Project as well as survivors of child trafficking in West Bengal and Meghalaya.

According to the NCRB data, more than 47,000 children missing in India, 71 per cent are girls. And, in 2022, across India, a total of 2,250 cases of human trafficking were registered and 6,036 victims were identified, of which 2,878 were children, including 1,059 girls. According to the report, 1,190 girls were rescued from trafficking the same year.

ALSO READ: MIFF 2024 | Miriam Chandy Menacherry: ‘I belong to a generation that began the new wave of Indian documentary cinema’

It took an independent Malayalam film (Aattam) to offer a self-probing meta commentary on the film industry’s mis-handling of the #MeToo movement as well as of the latent misogyny, casual sexism, and sexual harassment in the performing arts industry, from films to theatre. And, what's heartening, is that the National Awards jury, has done justice to the said award by giving it to not a commercial film but what is the best film of 2023. Even if for the optics, this one decision of the government will be and should be applauded by whoever has watched Aattam. It’s streaming on Amazon Prime Video, if you haven’t yet, what’s your excuse?

ALSO READ: Aattam & The Family Man actor Zarin Shihab: ‘In Mumbai, I was only allowed to audition for south Indian roles’

Remember the biggest incident that triggered the movement down south came from the Malayalam film industry in 2017 after a leading actress was abducted and sexually assaulted in a moving van, orchestrated by top actor Dileep. That incident led to the creation of the WCC (Women in Cinema Collective), an organisation for women working in the Malayalam film industry.

The news of the National Award came a few days after the Kerala High Court lifted the stay on the release of the highly anticipated Justice Hema committee report, which examines the challenges faced by women in the Malayalam film industry. The report was scheduled to be out on August 17, after the earlier release date of July 24, has now been released by the Kerala government on Monday, August 19, after 63 pages were redacted to protect the privacy of individuals. The Kerala High Court on Monday declined to entertain an appeal filed by actor Ranjini against the August 13 order of a single-judge bench allowing the release of the Justice Hema Committee report. This decision removed the legal obstacles to publicising the report.

Women on and off screen are objectified

Incidences of sexual assault have happened in every film industry, from Bollywood (Alok Nath to Sajid Khan), Kannada to Telugu film industries, but other states, societies and film industries have been tight-lipped and cowardly to self-reflect and probe themselves. However, the Hindi movie industry made an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) to address women’s issues mandatory for production houses after the #MeToo movement in 2018. Many of the accused men, in Malayalam film industry and outside, have found work thereafter, the women, however, who so much as even raised their voice, did not.

At an actors’ roundtable in 2018, a year after the formation of the Women in Cinema Collective, Parvathy Thiruvothu said, “None of us in the WCC are getting any offers. The minute WCC is attached to our name, we’re the odd ones out. ‘Don’t talk to her.’ So it’s taken a direct hit.” Six years later, this sentiment is echoed in the Justice Hema Committee Report released by the Kerala government. “Women in cinema have a strong case that members of WCC are banned from cinema only because they are members of the said organisation and they talk about out the atrocities they face in cinema,” read the report.

Many films, blockbuster and otherwise, in all these decades, have shown women from the patriarchal lens: as taming of the shrew, as a warning bell, by compelling her to conform to social and gender norms or be violated, as vulnerable beings who need to be “saved” by men, from other men. The ’80s cinema were replete with a rape scene, used for titillation to pull more men to theatres.

Many actresses, even in Bollywood, including Jaya Bachchan, among others, have spoken of the poor conditions women faced off screen and on the set too, in outdoor shootings, where there would be no washrooms and two men would hold a saree and the actress was expected to change into her next costume, or attend to nature's call, out in the open. It was hellish if they had menstruation on shoot days.

What is Justice K Hema Committee

Actress Sharada, former IAS officer KB Vatsalakumari were also members of the Justice K Hema committee, which was formed in 2017 after the high-profile rape case in Malayalam film industry hit the headlines and the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) was formed, helmed by renowned names (all women) in the Malayalam film industry, from Revathy, Bina Paul, Rima Kallingal, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Anjali Menon, Geethu Mohandas, Remya Nambeessan, Padmapriya, among others, to fight against sexual harassment and for women's rights and better conditions for women film professionals.

Between 2019 (when the report was submitted to the Kerala government) and 2022, the CM Pinarayi Vijayan government, after assessing the 300-page report comprising recorded statements of several women professionals in the film industry, only released a draft of the recommendations of the Hema committee, including making job contracts mandatory. Other recommendations included equal wages for men and women, ban on use of drugs and liquor at shooting locations, and safe working conditions for women at the locations.

“Before issuing the stay, the court had asked for responses from both the state government and the RTI (Right to Information) Commission. Filmmaker Sajimon Parayil had approached the High Court to prevent the report’s release, arguing that it would infringe on the privacy of those involved in the film industry…endanger individuals who had shared sensitive information about the industry.” Before last month’s tentative release of the report, all the 82 pages of the State Information Commission’s document were edited, including 115 paragraphs and certain lines across several pages. From the final, 295-page report, 63 pages were redacted before the release to safeguard the privacy of the individuals.

Why the release of Hema committee report took so long

The Indian Express wrote on August 13, “The issue of publicising the [Hema] committee report has been controversial in Kerala. The Government had earlier decided not to reveal the report, which has been with it for the last five years. The cultural affairs department was not ready to hand over a copy of the report even under the RTI Act.” CM Pinarayi Vijayan said, after the report's release, the government had not initially released the report as it got a letter from Justice Hema, who wanted to keep the matter confidential as it involves references affecting the privacy of several persons.

The report revealed

The study cautions: ‘Do not trust what you see, even salt looks like sugar!' That not all beloved stars are to be loved. Clearly, the hint is at big names, the industry powerfuls. The report confirms that the casting couch is prevalent in Malayalam cinema, typically managed by the respective film’s production controller or the person offering the role. Pointing out that the harassment starts from the very inception.

ALSO READ: From sexual harassment to gender-based discrimination in Malayalam film industry, Major Key points of Hema Committee Report

Hema Committee report: Women face sexual harassment in Malayalam film industry

K Hema Committee report's shocking findings expose dark secrets of Malayalam film industry

The production controller or whoever gives an offer for role in cinema would first approach the woman/girl or, if it is the other way around, a woman – approaches any person in cinema seeking a chance in cinema, she is told that she has to make “adjustments” and “compromise” to get the offer. For the unversed, these terms are often used by industry insiders to imply sexual favours, effectively instructing the woman to be available for sex on demand. One girl told the committee that any male cast or crew member could demand sex, and a woman must be willing to comply. Such harassment is normalised by maligning the names of certain successful female actors as having gained their reputation/fame by giving in to these expectations. “Many in the industry are made to believe that all women in the industry get into the industry or are retained only because they have sex with men in the industry,” the report states.

The report also highlights the misconception that women enter cinema for financial gain and are willing to endure anything. “It has come out in evidence that it is only after the formation of Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) that women started disclosing to each other their bad experiences relating to sexual harassment,” the report notes, adding that until then, many survivors kept such harrowing experiences to themselves.

The committee observed that junior artists were treated 'worse than slaves' on certain film sets. Another alarming finding is that many men assume that women willing to perform intimate scenes on-screen are also willing to do so off the set, too. “Therefore, men in the industry make open demand for sex, without any embarrassment,” the report notes. Unsurprisingly, many men spoken to by the committee attempted to downplay sexual harassment in cinema by suggesting it occurs in other fields, too, thereby trivialising the abuse.

Malayalam filmmaker Anjali Menon, who has been at the forefront of protests for the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, told The Indian Express that the long-awaited report could upset ‘power structures’ in the industry, and that it’s ‘important to know workings of gender in the industry’.

There was hope that once the report is out in the public domain, many heads would roll, many big names will come tumbling out, many heroes will fall. And that is the fear most men, in the industry and outside, hold close. Powerful men close ranks. And, so, there is great furore among the Opposition and the film industry in Kerala after the report's release. Many have claimed the government is trying to protect the powerful 'mafia' of top film personnel in the industry. The CM has vowed action and said the state government would conduct a conclave to form a comprehensive film policy, which is one of the suggestions of the report.

Soniya Thilakan, daughter of the late legendary actor Thilakan, told The Indian Express that she, too, had a bitter experience at the hands of a prominent actor. “Since the report is out, steps should be taken to ensure justice for the victims. The remaining pages in the report, which were removed before being released, should be brought out. A prominent actor had once invited me to his room. He wanted to tender an apology for having ousted my father, Thilakan, from the artistes association. But the message that I got from him exposed his bad intentions. I am not in the industry. Yet I had such an experience. The name of the actor will be revealed at the right time,” she said.

Will the National Award for Aattam and the Justice Hema committee report bring winds of change in the Malayalam film industry? We are all eyes and ears.