Stormy times for Mollywood

Sexual harassment is unfortunately a widespread practice in most industries including the film industry. In recent years, activism against sexual harassment and exploitation of women has been very strong in Kerala. This is thanks to Dileep, who kidnapped a prominent actress and assaulted her a few years ago.

Many actresses of Mollywood mobilized in solidarity with the accused actress and demanded reforms in the system to make their film industry a safer place for women. These events clashed with the then globally prominent Me-Too movement, amplifying the collective voices of the aggrieved. There were also a few false complaints. The crux of the matter is that even if the victims could not get legal remedies for their traumatic and unjust ordeals, the accused in question had certainly tarnished their public image through the informal naming and shaming protocols that are a hallmark of the Me-Too movement.

But a recent move by the court has brought this pernicious issue to the forefront once again. The Justice Hema Committee report, which detailed the mess of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry, has shaken things up in Kerala and the country as well. Eye-opening revelations about the prevalence of abuse came out in the report. After the report came out, more and more actresses have come forward with allegations.

Actress Revathi Sampath had accused prominent Malayalam actor Siddique of rape, while Bengali actress Srilekha Mitra had accused director Ranjith Balakrishnan of indecent behavior. What sets these two allegations apart from their earlier precedents is that both Siddique and Ranjith have now resigned from their top positions at the Malayalam Movie Artists Association and the Kerala Film Board respectively. This is quite rare. It shows that these allegations are not only serious, but that things are going to change dramatically from here on.