Hema Committee Report: Magic of cinema hides deep-rooted gender bias

Something is rotten in the Malayalam film industry. 

This comes out starkly in the recently released report of the expert committee constituted by the Kerala government in 2017.

And this was in response to a petition from the Kerala-based Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) following the abduction and sexual assault of a woman actor inside a moving vehicle in the state. 

A grim picture

The three-woman committee, chaired by Justice K. Hema, a former judge of the Kerala High Court, was asked to “to study and report on various issues faced by women in cinema and to suggest solutions to them.”

The picture painted by the committee is far from pretty.

From the shocking prevalence of sexual exploitation to the non-availability of clean and secure toilets and changing rooms, the list of harassments goes on and on. There is no safe transportation and accommodation and no legally binding work contracts either. 

There is appalling levels of inequity and discrimination in remuneration; from gender-based barriers to key occupations within the industry to the special problems faced by women aspiring to be hairstylists, make-up artists and junior artists. 

Open secret

The existence of an omnipotent group—reportedly comprising a small number of producers, directors, actors, and production controllers—has been an open secret within the industry. 

Its stranglehold on the movie industry had created a climate of fear that had silenced almost everyone working or wishing to work in Malayalam movies.

Some women told the committee that they could not speak out about their experiences of sexual harassment because they feared for their lives and even the lives of family members.

Industry boycott

The Hema Committee’s report highlighted the and bans imposed on cinema artists out of favour with this elite group, often as a form of retaliation or control. 

Even prominent male actors are known to have been prevented from working in the past because they had stepped on the toes of one or more powerful persons, often unwittingly. 

As a result, both men and women were reluctant to talk about unpleasant aspects of the industry for fear of losing work opportunities. Many WCC members have experienced such boycotts over the past few years, thanks to the collective’s activism.

The report: Delayed and redacted

The committee’s report was made public on  19 August, more than five years after it was submitted to the government.

The State Information Commission’s order directing the Kerala government to make it available came out because of the Right to Information applications by 16 journalists. 

At least 55 pages containing testimonies of women who had experienced sexual harassment or other sensitive information that could reveal the identities of those involved were redacted from the 290-page document before release.

The committee was committed to protecting the privacy of those who shared their experiences with it. The committee’s remit was to study and report on issues relating to women in cinema, not to name or shame anybody or expose the guilty. 

A substantial part of the report—especially the sections written by Justice Hema and former bureaucrat Valsala Kumari—is devoted to detailed, practical suggestions regarding actions that could help solve the severe problems currently experienced by women working in cinema.

What is the solution?

According to Justice Hema the only solution was “to enact an appropriate statute and constitute a tribunal under the statute” as the decades old existing laws were not sufficient to deal with present-day challenges.

She proposed the enactment of a new law: The Kerala Cine Employers & Employees (Regulation) Act and provided a list of legal provisions to address the various issues identified by the committee.

K.B. Valsala Kumari, a member of the committee, stressed the need for “mandatory, basic online training in gender” for everyone working in the film industry. She also highlighted the importance of gender balance in the composition of decision-making bodies in cinema.

According to senior film editor Bina Paul, a founder-member of WCC, the collective “would like to stress that while sexual harassment is a major problem, as pointed out in the report, we would also like to see systemic changes in our work conditions and an acknowledgment of our professional status as women in the industry.”

The situation is not different elsewhere.

The problems documented in the Hema Committee are not exclusive to the Malayalam film industry.

A two-year project undertaken by WCC and Sakhi Women’s Resource Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, set out to examine the status of women and trans persons who identify as women in the film industries of south India. 

According to the 2020 report, Shift Focus: Women Shaping the Narrative in Media and Entertainment, the challenges that women working in different areas of filmmaking five southern states were similar.

There are indications that the situation in Bollywood is not all that different, either.

                           (By arrangement with livemint.com)