It’s the dirty picture they don’t want you to see. The heart of film industries across India shares a common, ugly truth: the rampant sexual exploitation of the vulnerable. This can of worms has been opened in Kerala—colloquially called Mollywood—by the Hema Committee report, which detailed sexual harassment, including forced assaults, in the Malayalam film industry.
The report, which was kept under wraps for two years, has sent the Malayalam film industry bigwigs scurrying for cover as it reveals damaging findings. Imagine a workplace and environment where “midnight knocks” on the doors of women working in movies are common, as detailed in the Hema Committee report.
Eighty percent of the women from the Malayalam film industry who spoke to the committee said this was a routine occurrence. In fact, some of the women said they were scared and terrified that their hotel doors would break down under the persistent knocking.
Demands for “compromise and adjustments” were the euphemisms, accompanied by threats that women who refused would be blacklisted by the “mafia” controlling the Malayalam film industry. The Hema Committee found that women working in the industry were not given contracts and were paid much less than men.
The exploitation was so systematic that men kept “mementos” from their exploits to further blackmail the women if they refused to give in and forced them to sleep with others in the “mafia.”
Accused rehabilitated
Women were shown videos of successful actors and told that this was the only way to succeed in the industry. The Hema Committee also found that women working on Malayalam films faced awful conditions.
Unfortunately, the bigger picture of women under siege in the glamour industry is probably even worse in Bollywood. After the outcry of the MeToo movement, which led to criminal investigations and prosecutions in Hollywood and saw powerful producer Harvey Weinstein jailed, the Hindi film industry—otherwise known as Bollywood—quietly rehabilitated all the accused men.
None of those who were called out faced any consequences, either from the justice system or professionally. They have literally gotten away with serial sexual misconduct, and if I were to detail their names here, I could be sued. The irony is rich, but the victims are extremely bitter.
Two well-known directors who were publicly accused are as celebrated and beloved as they were before the allegations. One of the victims said to me, “I have been made an outcast because I spoke out. I am now back to living on my parents’ financial support after having earned enough to buy a flat in Lokhandwala. The flat was the first asset I had to sell just to be able to eat and live in Mumbai. After that, my bank account got drained. These two men have ensured that I am a ghost, a non-person. No one takes my calls—not directors, not casting directors, not even my co-actors. It’s like I don’t exist. And when I mindlessly scroll through Instagram sitting in my parents’ home in Pune, I see my harassers being feted, hailed for their creativity, and treated as authority figures. Just the thought of the anguish it would cause my parents stops me.”
Powerless victims speak
What do you say to a woman in her early thirties gripped by such anguish? But then, this is the story of Bollywood, which looks beautiful from the outside but is so grimy on the inside.
Another victim who outed a music director during the MeToo movement has predictably received no work as a singer since then. She says, “Not only did he expect to exploit me, but he wanted me to play along with another director he wanted to score music for. It was like a package deal. If he got the film, the director could also exploit me. It was almost as if his actions were invisible or normal.”
The music director has suffered no professional consequences and continues with business as usual. This essentially establishes the culpability of the entire Hindi film industry in the grotesque business of sexual harassment and exploitation. Why the collective silence? Why the lack of outrage and anger? And, worst of all, why the quiet rehabilitation of the perpetrators? How can powerless victims speak when the powerful collectively cover up?
Another young actor who has quit the industry and moved to try and get technical work in the OTT space says, “Unless you are a nepo baby who calls all the bigwigs ‘uncle,’ you are fair game without protection. We need a Hema Committee for Bollywood, and then we’ll see the can of worms that will squirm out.”
Putting the situation in perspective, a widely respected director says, “See, finally, reckoning came to Hollywood. It took time, but it came. It will also come in Bollywood, maybe not in my lifetime, but it will. You have a situation where very young actors come looking for a break. They have no resources except for their good looks. It is a completely unequal balance of power, and that’s what they take advantage of. And everyone is complicit because they know it’s going on, and they simply look away.”
