Mollywood #MeToo Moment Creates Ripples: A Hema Committee For Tollywood & Kollywood?

Hema Committee Report which created an uproar in the Malayalam film industry is now spreading its wings to other regional film industries, including Kollywood and Tollywood. Submitted 5 years ago to the Kerala government, the over 290-page report details shocking accounts alleging sexual harassment, exploitation, and ill-treatment of female artists. It was publicly released on August 19, following the brutal rape and murder of a Kolkata doctor. This appalling incident has sparked crucial conversations about women's safety, especially in the workplace.

While celebs from across the film industry are voicing their concern over the ongoing unrest in Kolkata and the Malayalam cinema industry, Tollywood and Kollywood celebs are urging to set up a body similar to the Hema Committee.  

Bengali women artists write to state-run associations

Over a hundred Bengali female artists wrote to the state-run Tele Academy on Tuesday, seeking a safer workplace amid the outrage over the rape-murder of the doctor at RG Kar hospital. Among the signatories of the letter, which was also sent to the Eastern India Motion Picture Association and West Bengal Motion Picture Artistes Forum, were director Aparna Sen, actors Rupa Ganguly, Swastika Mukherjee, Paoli Dam, Sohini Sarkar, Sohini Sengupta, Bidipta Chakraborty, Chaitali Dasgupta, Anuradha Ray and Shakuntala Barua, and scriptwriter Meghatithi Banerjee. They have also demanded a redressal system for television, web platforms and the film industry.

The letter, issued by the Women's Forum for Screen Workers, said that no functional support system was in place to prevent, prohibit and redress sexual harassment. "Nor any open conversation about the recurrent incidents of sexual abuse of women, children and other extremely vulnerable people working in this industry. It is at once an open secret and a hushed-up reality," it added.

WCC demands Telangana government to publish Voice Of Women report

After triggering a storm in Malayalam cinema,  Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) is now determined to expose the harassment and abuse faced by women in the Telugu film industry. “We, the women of the Telugu film industry, welcome the Hema Committee report and applaud the persistent efforts of the WCC in Kerala, which has laid the path to this momentum.” The statement revealed that a support group was created for women in the Telugu film industry in 2019. “Taking cue from the WCC, The Voice of Women, a support group for women in the TFI, was created in 2019," the statement added.

Soon after the WCC released the statement, Telugu artists, including Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kousalya and Nandini Reddy, joined the moment and urged the statement government to step up a committee. They shared the statement on their social media handle, supporting WCC's move to help make the industry a better place for female artists.

Vishal promises to form a committee in the next 10 days

Tamil actor Vishal, an SIAA Secretary, addressed the ongoing unrest in Mollywood and opined how people misbehaving with women should be treated. "People who are misbehaving with women should be hit with slippers," he said. Vishal said he would create a committee where artists can open up about various kinds of exploitations in Tamil cinema. "I want to reassure them, we (SIAA) are there, and we won’t let the miscreants go scot-free," he continued.

Vishal added that Nadigar Sangam will form a committee in the next ten days and the preparation for the same is underway. He assured that the official announcement would be made soon. "It is our duty to do so. The association is not just for the men in the industry. It’s also for women to know that there is someone there for them,” Vishal concluded.