"We don't sell ourselves.” Amid the Kerala film industry's Me Too movement, actor-politician Khushbu Sundar sets the record straight about women in the industry, in a chat with Brut.
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00:00They come with a pre-fixed judgmental mind which says that women from cinema do not have any character.
00:08They go around sleeping with 10 men to progress in life.
00:11We entertain you, we don't sell ourselves.
00:14Now, it's been a couple of days after the Hema Committee report which has come out.
00:18Is it surprising that it is not being spoken about with as much outrage as is probably needed?
00:27Maybe in the media.
00:28We don't have a lot of other industries, whether it's Bollywood or even in different other states
00:36who have sort of come out in support that this is something that needs to be addressed,
00:42you know, which is taking place.
00:43Is it surprising or do you think where I'm coming from really is that we've somewhere
00:49become so immune when we listen to these reports which are coming out.
00:55Why do you think it hasn't sort of, you know, made the larger outcry?
01:00I'm not surprised at all, Mehak, because we are taken for granted.
01:06The women from film industry are public properties.
01:10They are not treated as women who have these same emotions,
01:14the same feelings, the same sense of touch, the same sense of...
01:20The heart beats the same.
01:21They breathe the same air.
01:22They have the same blood flowing in their body.
01:24Just because you're from film, you're from cinema,
01:26you don't have a blue blood flowing in your body.
01:29Your heart beats differently.
01:31No, it's still the same.
01:32But unfortunately, we are taken for granted and we carry this burden with us.
01:38Even today, though we say that we have progressed, we look at women with equality,
01:44no women with cinema still come with a huge stigma,
01:48a burden of stigma which they carry.
01:50And they said women from cinema toh aise hi hoti hain.
01:53So where do we go?
01:56We are the largest money generating industry in the country.
02:00We are the largest taxpayers in the industry.
02:02But we don't have any recognition from the government of India.
02:06We are not a recognized body by the government of India.
02:10So women, especially even today, even on social media,
02:15you look at it the way the kind of comments which comes for a woman.
02:19It's always like they feel that, this is how you are.
02:23They come with a prefixed judgmental mind,
02:26which says that women from cinema do not have any character.
02:31They are characterless.
02:32And this is how they do it.
02:33They go around sleeping with 10 men to progress in life.
02:37Every time a woman speaks, and there is a comment on the social media,
02:41because this is what the society thinks.
02:43This is how you are.
02:45Out of 100, probably five of them would say,
02:48no, do not speak about her like this.
02:50But 95 of them would speak in a very,
02:55what do I say, in a very inappropriate manner about her.
02:59So when you come from an industry which is not recognized,
03:02we entertain you.
03:03We don't sell ourselves.
03:05We entertain you.
03:08Women in cinema, they come from respectable family.
03:13So it's just that we bring ourselves to a position,
03:17we say we don't even expect anybody to speak for us.
03:21There are disappointments when your expectations are not met.
03:26So we don't even expect anybody to come and stand in our support.
03:30We women are strong enough where we will fight for ourselves.
03:34I belong to this industry and I take pride in saying that
03:38cinema, especially South cinema is my home, my family,
03:42every member of this across the states.
03:46I have worked in all the four South Indian states
03:48and people from every state from the industry is my family.
03:53I take pride.
03:54So it comes as a rude shock when these kind of allegations come up.
03:59I personally have faced only once
04:02and that too when I was absolutely a stark newcomer in the South in 86.
04:08I hadn't started working in different languages.
04:10It was only Telugu cinema what I was doing.
04:13But I knew how to put the man back in place
04:16and I did it then and there itself.
04:18I was very clear.
04:20You know, most of the women do not possess this courage probably.
04:26There's a fear that they may not get to the next work.
04:29There is a fear that they might be outcasted.
04:31They're in a very, very vulnerable position
04:36where there are times when they give in to these kind of demands
04:40and that's when they're exploited
04:41because the person who is putting forth these demands,
04:45he understands her vulnerability.
04:48He understands that she has to take a meal.
04:51He understands that she has actually come here fighting with a family
04:56from a small town to make it big with stars in her eyes.
04:58But all I would like to tell all these women is
05:02you always have a choice.
05:04You cannot compromise on your dignity and your integrity.
05:08You always have a choice.
05:11There are times when women do succumb to these kind of pressures
05:15which is very, very unfortunate.
05:18And this is where we need to stand together and fight
05:21and see that no other woman is exploited
05:25or I would say sexploited
05:27because if a sexual favor is what is in the bargain
05:32then this needs to stop right here, now.
05:35And we need to stand together collectively and fight for it.