By admin
“Sometimes, I would act naive. At others, I would put my foot down. But the difference in how you were treated on set the next day was clear—with utter disdain.”
Mitra, who is known for films such as Hothat Brishti (1998), Kantatar (2006) and Rainbow Jelly (2018), has accused Malayalam film director Ranjith of misbehaving with her. A lot of women who have succumbed to these overtures have gone on to become successful, she said. But for actors like her, who have preferred to keep their personal and professional lives separate, it is an uphill journey.
“This has always been the case, from the start of the industry, and it cannot be eradicated,” said Mitra. “While some succumb, what happens to the women who are here only to work and not to get anything extra? The system fails them.”
In Mumbai, actor Tanushree Dutta is just back from a pilgrimage. She has cut down on movie assignments and spends her time in spiritual endeavours since calling out actor Nana Patekar in 2018 for sexually harassing her on a film set 10 years earlier. “I’ve paid a very heavy price for it. I’ve been holding on to my sanity by a thread all these years. I’ve watched my projects fall apart without reason and a lobby has worked against me,” Dutta told Mint.
View Full Image
Mitra and Dutta speak for the multiple women in Bengali and Hindi cinema and other movie industries who first found a voice in 2018 and more, recently, with the release of the Hema Committee report in Kerala, recounting harrowing experiences of sexual harassment while working in the entertainment business. Their accounts are often eerily similar, proving that not much has changed in the past six years.
The harassment takes many forms: demands for sexual favours in order to get jobs, male members of the cast and crew forcefully knocking on hotel room doors on outdoor shoots, unequal pay, and lack of clean toilets or safe changing areas on sets.
“I’ve heard of this ‘knock on the door’ … way too many times…,” said Asiya Shervani, an expert in workplace equity, who facilitates anti-sexual harassment workshops for film production houses and crews. She added that the act is common across industries and not limited to cinema. “When the door is not opened despite the insistent knocking or the woman manages to avoid the overtures despite the coercion, it results in retaliation, which—if you’re lucky—might stop at character assassination of the vilest kind. If not, it would probably end in you losing your job for ‘not cooperating’ or even worse.”
While the release of the Hema Committee report was a punch in the gut for the Malayalam movie industry, these incidents are not unique to West Bengal or Kerala.
The release of the Hema Committee report was a punch in the gut for the Malayalam movie industry, much acclaimed for its focus on storytelling rather than star power, and raw, earthy writing in lieu of big budgets. But, as several entertainment industry experts told Mint, these situations cannot be seen as reflective of circumstances unique to West Bengal or Kerala.
Tip of the iceberg
In a sense, the Hema Committee report heralds the second phase of the MeToo movement in Indian entertainment. Soon after it was published, numerous female artistes came forward to allege that senior actors and filmmakers, including the likes of Ranjith Balakrishnan, Siddiqui and Jayasurya, were sexual offenders.
View Full Image
Since then, around 100 women from the Bengali film industry have written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee demanding an investigative body similar to the Hema Committee, while a delegation of actors from the Kannada industry has met Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah seeking the same.
Just as in Kerala, the Telangana state government had formed a high-level committee to look into similar issues. But Telugu cinema apparently enjoys strong political affiliations. Despite having been submitted in 2022, the report is yet to be published. Some would remember that this reckoning within the Telugu industry was sparked in 2018 when a young actor named Sri Reddy had claimed that she had been denied membership in the Movie Artists’ Association (MAA) despite making a “commitment”, referring to sexual favours demanded by influential men in exchange for film roles. Reddy had then stripped half-naked in front of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce to call out the rampant sexual exploitation in the industry.
The Telangana state government had formed a high-level committee to look into the issues. But Telugu cinema apparently enjoys strong political affiliations. Despite having been submitted in 2022, the report is yet to be published.
Singer Chinmayi Sripada, who had accused Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu of sexual harassment in 2018, says the issue needs to be looked at in totality, encompassing various factors such as the fact that artiste unions offer no response to the women who speak up. “I’ve faced six years of an official ban from the Tamil industry and there has been dead silence on my case,” she told Mint.
“These power structures exist everywhere, be it the Tamil, Telugu, Bengali or Hindi film industries or anywhere in the country and across the world. The Mumbai MeToo movement in 2018 had only scratched the surface and Malayalam cinema is the soft target right now,” said a senior film producer who works across languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and Malayalam. “There is absolutely no dearth of stories on how Telugu filmmakers are always interested in getting ‘pretty girls from Bombay’ for their movies, girls who are regularly invited to parties, or men in Bengali cinema enjoying limitless power thanks to their proximity to the government.”
View Full Image
Mitra said the recent revelations are just the tip of the iceberg. “A lot of actresses wouldn’t dare to call men out, simply because while they may have said no to a couple of them, they’d have complied with some others. If everyone starts talking, the entire system would crumble,” she added.
Back in business
To be sure, while the unorganized nature of the business makes the setting up of internal complaints committees (ICCs) difficult and uncommon, women who may have reported incidents of sexual harassment do not have encouraging news for others.
View Full Image
For example, director Vikas Bahl, co-founder of Phantom Films, who was accused of sexual harassment by an employee, as well as by actor Kangana Ranaut, has seen releases like Goodbye, Ganapath and Shaitaan over the past few years. A year after music composer Anu Malik was removed as a judge from singing reality show Indian Idol after singers Sona Mohapatra and Shweta Pandit accused him of predatory behaviour, he was back to judge other seasons of the same show. Vairamuthu, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, continues to find work.
Messages sent to Ranjith Balakrishnan, Siddiqui, Jayasurya, Vikas Bahl, Anu Malik, Nana Patekar and Vairamuthu, seeking clarifications, remained unanswered.
View Full Image
The women, on the other hand, haven’t had it easy when it comes to their right to work. While Sripada has faced a six-year ban from the Tamil industry, Kannada actor Sruthi Hariharan, who had accused co-star Arjun Sarja of sexually harassing her on the sets of Tamil film Nibunan, has admitted that offers dried up drastically after her allegations. Dutta has had to subsist on brand collaborations and public appearances.
When they try to file a complaint, some women face police hostility as well. Dutta said that while the police registered an FIR for her, she has witnessed them not doing so for many other women. “I had 14 witnesses, but the police didn’t speak to any of them. Many of them also received calls from goons, so I couldn’t pressure them further. Women are often questioned why we don’t complain; these are the reasons,” she added.
Kannada actor Sruthi Hariharan, who had accused co-star Arjun Sarja of sexually harassing her on the sets of Tamil film Nibunan, has admitted that offers dried up drastically after her allegations.
“We hate women who speak up, so we try our best to make life difficult for them. We label them as troublemakers, shame them, blacklist them, go after them with all our might,” said Sherwani. Actually, she added, it should be easy to make a complaint against a sexual offender. “But it’s probably the toughest thing to do for someone who wants to continue to work.”
“Everyone has a name to protect. Everyone is working on their own projects, so they usually want to stay away when somebody is going through a tough time. But if powerful names came to the fore to speak up, perhaps women would not have to go through this ordeal,” Dutta said.
While that may be true, there has been complete silence on the Hema Committee report, and on the discourse around sexual harassment from all major movie industries, including male and female actors, filmmakers and technicians. This is despite the strong social media stand many of them had taken days ago on the alleged rape-murder of a woman medic at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
No rules, no accountability
Unlike the corporate world, where listed companies are required to set up POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) Committees, the film world is highly unorganized, with no entry barriers or credentials for anyone who wants to put a film or web project together, and no requirement for committees and measures such as these.
Unlike the corporate world, where listed companies are required to set up POSH Committees, the film world is highly unorganized and has no requirement for such measures.
Further, in the rare event that production houses do have facilities such as ICCs, or organize workshops in the run-up to shoots, these are done more as lip-service exercises with the implicit acceptance that the male lead, director and producer, often in cahoots with each other, will call the shots. “Even if there are ICCs in place, their mandates are more on the lines of moral non-cooperation and aren’t legally binding,” said Sripada.
While passing new laws and creating tribunals are well-intentioned measures, industry experts say it is hard to bring real change on the ground, which would translate into fighting the core mindset that women are in the workplace to pleasure men. Sripada and other entertainment industry professionals point out that Indian cinema firmly caters to the male gaze. And therefore, the heroes headlining most films are the primary draw for box office revenue, leading to most major decisions around films being taken by them, along with powerful male producers and directors. This is equally true across the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and other film industries.
“It’s definitely a hero-driven business. As a producer, it only makes sense to see a female-led film as one suited for OTT and put money on the man for theatrical experiences. But that is also to do with the audience, which likes to watch women more as props,” said a film producer, on condition of anonymity. He added that it is common for a male star across languages to take home pay that is equal to the remaining cost of production of the film. The female star, in comparison, makes 10-20% of the male star. “You’re not going to sell tickets on the female star, nor will any other rights go in her name,” the producer explained.
According to Ormax, 67% of the top 150 Hindi theatrical films released between 2017 and 2022 are led by male protagonists, while only 15% are female-led. The average box office collection of films led by female protagonists is about 50% of those led by male protagonists, and they are also made at half the cost.
When producers rely on male actors for not just box office draws but sale of all ancillary rights, including digital, satellite and music, it becomes difficult to make them see reason on why women’s rights matter.
One way to ensure this, some industry experts feel, is to have more women in decision-making roles, as is the case with television. According to a July 2022 report by media consulting firm Ormax, only 10% of the head of department (HoD) positions across key filmmaking divisions—production design, writing, editing, direction and cinematography—in India are held by women.
Industry bodies such as the Producers Guild of India, Film Employees Federation of Kerala, and Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), among others, also need to have higher representation of women and be more cognizant of what they can do to improve these workplace situations.
Secondly, individual film companies need to implement the mandatory actions spelt out by the law. Implementation on the ground would include interactive awareness sessions for all cast and crew members, including celebrity actors, besides forming ICCs with a competent chairperson and an external member, as well as a well-defined, emotionally-intelligent policy, and a clearly specified redressal mechanism.
Industry experts say it is hard to bring real change on the ground, given the ingrained mindset that women are in the workplace solely to pleasure men.
Industry insiders said that while some Mumbai-based studios did organize sessions post the 2018 revelations, these petered out soon after. The southern industries are yet to make any efforts on this front. Even when there is an occasional session, the lead actors don’t see it as worth turning up for.
“I’ve seen men rolling their eyes at some of the measures that are spoken of in workshops—if they turn up at all,” a film producer said, on condition of anonymity. “Interestingly, complaints have come in against the very same men a few months later.”