Make yourself available for sex: India's film industry where actors have to 'compromise' for work

Talks of giving work in films in exchange for sex have come up in different film industries of the world

Mirza AB Baig

Post, BBC Urdu, New Delhi

Aug 22, 2024, 09:07 PKT

Before starting the project, the director said that there will be some intimate scenes in the film. A day before the shooting, the director said that the film will have nudity and kissing scenes, many body parts will be shown. On the second day, it was said that the shooting would be done naked and in a bathtub.

These are the words of an actress working in India's Kerala film industry, which came out in a report that surfaced recently. The Hema Report has exposed the sexual harassment and casting couch scandals in the Indian film industry.

The 233-page report details the unfair treatment and sexual exploitation of women in Kerala's Malayalam film industry, a copy of which is also available to the BBC.

According to the report, 'various witness statements revealed that when a woman approaches someone to seek an opportunity in the film industry, she is told that adjustments and compromises will have to be made.'

"According to the report, compromise and adjustment are two terms that women working in the Malayalam film industry have become familiar with and they mean making themselves available for sex."

It may be noted that after the kidnapping and rape of a well-known actress in a moving car in 2017, the Kerala state government constituted a three-member Hema Committee.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticized Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the delay in releasing the report, while journalist Nidhi Suresh termed the release of the report as historic.

Actress and filmmaker Reema Kalingal holds up a poster in Malayalam that means 'with her'.

What is in the HEMA report?

Justice Hema's report states that 'as investigations into the problems faced by women in the film industry began to unfold, it began to be revealed that the industry's glamor was merely an outer sheen over which hovered the darkness of misery and constant torture. Clouds are invisible to the outside world.

"We heard so many stories of desperate sobs, not only from women but also from men, but found that they are surprisingly silenced in the industry." Their problems and agonies die within the industry, there is no forum to seek their solutions, even though their problems are immense.

Regarding the casting couch, the report says that "according to women, harassment in cinema starts from the very beginning." Various witness statements have revealed that the production controller or whoever offers the role in the first cinema, contacts the woman/girl or a woman would approach a person to seek an opportunity in cinema. If so, it is said that 'adjustment' and 'compromise' will have to be done to make a place in the cinema.

"Sex is not a prerequisite for women to get a job in any other field, but the casting couch makes working in the film industry different from other jobs," the report said.

The report contains horror stories of professional women, including actresses, being called for sexual gratification and being sexually harassed wherever they are accommodated, but the report says no fear of reprisal or neglect in the industry. does not dare to complain for fear of

A very senior artist is quoted in the report as saying, "Women don't bother to talk about sexual harassment." She does not do so for fear that she will be defamed and suffer the consequences in the future.

Women professionals have also complained to the committee about unequal wages, arbitrary deductions from salaries, poor working conditions and lack of washrooms in some places.

Kerala Women's Commission Chairperson P Sathi Devi has expressed grief and shock at this and told reporters that "a woman has to face conditions of sexual offer in exchange for an opportunity to act in a film." Kerala society needs to talk about this decadent culture in the film industry.

Demanding strict action from all state agencies, he said that "Cinema industry is ruled by criminals, which itself is a male-dominated sector."

From intimate scenes to nudity

An event to sample

A woman in her statement before the committee said that she was playing a small role in a film. "Before the start of the project, the director said that there will be some intimate scenes in the film," despite his repeated insistence, the director did not elaborate. "He just said that there is nothing to be afraid of. He will do as much as he (the actress) wants."

He said that after three months of preparing for the shooting of the film, one day the director said that the film would have nudity and liplock (kissing) scenes and would show a lot of body parts. They were forced to do kissing scenes and their backs were shown bare.

She was not ready to continue with this film. The next day she was told that she would be shot naked and in a bathtub. But when he left the film, he was not even paid for the three months he had worked.

Later, she sent a message to the director that she no longer trusted him and could not continue with the film. But he kept insisting that he will not delete their intimate scenes until she meets him personally in Kochi.

When he told this to the filmmaker, he said that he would talk to the director. He knew that the director was blackmailing him. Such a situation could have been avoided if there was a written agreement.

Speaking to the BBC over phone, Nidhi Suresh, who prepared a detailed 55-page report on the incident in Kerala in 2017, said that exploitation of women in the Kerala film industry is widespread.

He said that about six months before Hollywood's 'Me Too' movement against Harvey van Steen, a similar movement had gained momentum in Kerala, but it did not get the support that Hollywood's movement got and people came forward. .

                                               This report was submitted on December 31, 2019

If seen, there have been accusations of casting couch in Bollywood as well. Actress Sameera Reddy had said in 2012 that she had to leave films because of the casting couch, while former MP Renuka Chaudhary had said that even Parliament is not safe from it.

In response to a question, Nidhi Suresh said that this is the first attempt in India, but the casting couch exists in Bollywood and other film industries as well. Hopefully, after this report, there will be similar initiatives in other film industries and people will come forward and talk.

According to Nidhi Suresh, the Hema committee spoke to about 40 women in the Malayalam film industry and then submitted a 5,000-page report to the government in 2019, which was supposed to be tabled in the Assembly within six months, but almost After five years of delay, it was finally presented on Monday.

'This is not the Kerala that Kerala is famous for'

Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament from Kerala state of the Congress party and well-known author Shashi Tharoor, while talking to reporters, said, "It is very shameful and shocking that the government has been sitting on this report for almost five years and now they are forced to release it. . They are not ready to face the consequences. They should take action against him. The state government should be ashamed. The Kerala film industry is a highly respected industry both nationally and globally due to its renowned directors and actors.

Shashi Tharoor added, "It is unforgivable to create an unsafe working environment for women in such an industry, to intimidate, blackmail and do worse to them." This is not something that Kerala is known for. We are proud to be a state where girls are being educated at primary level for more than 200 years.

He said that this report needs to be fully aired and acted upon. It doesn't matter which influential people's reputations are affected because it takes a long time for women to come forward and complain, and the women who do come forward are largely Has staked his reputation and his career. They have done so because they believe that it is important to bring these facts to the fore.

                                                    Suraj Kumar is a filmmaker and director

Filmmaker and director Sooraj Kumar, who made a film on Rabindranath Tagore, sent a statement to the BBC on the matter, in which he wrote: 'As a filmmaker and a strong advocate of women's rights, I support the Justice Hema Committee. Very concerned with the results of the report. The revelations of harassment of women in the Malayalam film industry are appalling and unacceptable. The practice of forcing women to 'compromise' and 'adjust' is a heinous act of sexual exploitation. This is a grave injustice that hurts the spirit of cinema.

He further wrote: 'It is important that we as a community come together to put an end to these atrocities. We must create an environment where talent and merit are the only criteria for success and where everyone, regardless of gender, is treated with dignity and respect. I stand with all the women who have bravely spoken out.

Related Topics

#India #Sexual violence #The movie #gender #Women #Women's rights #art artist #Sex