Hema Commission Report Exposes Mollywood Mafia

Now the whole world knows why the Hema Commission report, which investigated complaints of sexual harassment in the Malayalam cinema industry, was kept secret for five years. If it weren’t for a few people who wanted a copy of it under the Right to Information Act, the Kerala government wouldn’t have budged. The commission was set up against the backdrop of a film actor who was kidnapped and sexually harassed, allegedly at the instigation of a superstar who wanted video evidence of the assault. The appointment of the Justice K Hema commission was more to appease the public than to reveal the truth about the state of affairs in Malayalam cinema. The former Supreme Court judge conducted a thorough investigation and exposed the Augean stables of Mollywood. The commission concluded, overall, that women were not given any respect in the film industry and that the perception was that they would suffer instead of protesting against injustice.

The industry was controlled by a mafia of certain producers, actors and distributors who had their own way of dealing with actors who were not willing to compromise. They had an effective informal system of isolating them and denying them opportunities. The committee concluded that none of the five laws relating to cinema are capable of addressing the problems plaguing the industry. It has suggested that a new law be framed which can address such problems in a time-bound manner. The committee rejected the argument often advanced by groups like AMMA and wondered why women did not go to the police. It cited the fact that women are most harassed in their own homes and yet they do not go to the police. What is needed is a system where anyone who harasses a woman is punished. Certainty of punishment is more effective than severity.