Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Entertainment Editor, breaks down how the Hema Committee Report is shaking up Malayalam cinema
Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/south-indian/justice-hema-committee-findings-tovino-thomas-and-prithviraj-speak-up-as-kerala-film-industry-caught-in-metoo-storm-1.1724662088168
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/south-indian/justice-hema-committee-findings-tovino-thomas-and-prithviraj-speak-up-as-kerala-film-industry-caught-in-metoo-storm-1.1724662088168
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00:00Good evening, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan and I'm the entertainment editor for Gulf
00:09News.
00:10Today I'm here to talk about what's happening in the Kerala film industry.
00:13Currently, there is a Me Too movement that's gathering steam in the Kerala film industry.
00:19And I'll tell you how it all began.
00:21It began in 2017 when a popular actress was sexually assaulted in a moving car and the
00:27entire sordid episode was caught on camera.
00:31She filed a complaint, a police complaint, the case is still under trial.
00:34And one of the accused against her was actor Dilip.
00:40He's one of the accused as well.
00:42At that point, the Amma organization, which is like a collective body of actors, went
00:48on to take a very soft stand against actor Dilip.
00:51Therefore, all the women, the powerful women in the Kerala film industry, actresses like
00:56Parvati Thiruvoth, the Bangalore Days filmmaker Anjali Menon, Reema Kalingal, and actresses
01:04Ramyaan Ambishan, etc., came together and formed a collective called the Women in Cinema
01:09Collective.
01:10They also called for an investigation into the inner workings of the Kerala film industry,
01:17especially against female actors.
01:19So the Justice Hema Commission was formed to investigate into the issue.
01:23And after a four-year wait, the findings were revealed earlier this week.
01:29Some of the findings and observations made into the more than 200 pages report was very
01:37incriminating.
01:39It said that there's a powerful mafia made up of powerful male actors, directors and
01:45technicians that control the Malayalam film industry.
01:48Any woman who says that she was sexually abused at work or there was an inappropriate advance
01:52made against her while she was working on a film set was immediately cancelled or penalized
01:58because they were withdrawing work from her.
02:00They were immediately cancelled by these powerful men.
02:03It also said that apart from casting couch and there were no changing rooms, there were
02:08also instances where female actors had to undergo severe trauma when male actors or
02:15technicians knocked on their doors late at night demanding sex for work.
02:21Now, all this incriminating evidence has come to a boil and several developments have now
02:29taken place.
02:30The fallout was very quick.
02:32Just like how in Hollywood, when Harvey Weinstein, the producer and the top Hollywood mogul was
02:40toppled after the MeToo allegations when women came forward and spoke about their experiences
02:45where he sexually assaulted them, a similar thing is happening where actors like
02:50Siddique and against Mukesh etc. are being made.
02:54In fact, Siddique is the general secretary of the association called Amma.
02:58A few days earlier, he called a press conference claiming there was no casting couch in Malayalam cinema.
03:03He dismissed, he said he welcomed the findings of the Hema committee report, took a very diplomatic
03:09stand and said that no complaint, official complaint was never ever made to any to his
03:14organization, Amma, and therefore it's the police who has to take a stand, etc.
03:19So he kind of washed his hands of the entire thing.
03:22But today, he has resigned from his post when a woman called Revati Sampath, when she was
03:2921 years old, she claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Siddique in a hotel room.
03:34He has now resigned as the general secretary of Amma, which is a huge thing.
03:39I mean, so far there has been no accountability at all.
03:42I mean, these claims are made, the women are ignored.
03:45That's how it usually rolled.
03:47But suddenly you see a bit of movement, a bit of change perhaps happening.
03:52Even actor Mukesh, who's very popular, a woman has come forward claiming that she was also assaulted.
03:58Several notable actors, male actors have now been accused of sexual misconduct.
04:03It's also interesting to note that none of the major superstars like Mohanlal, Mammootty,
04:09Prithviraj, Dhulkar, Fahad Fazal has openly commented on the Hema findings report.
04:14It's very shocking.
04:16Anjali Menon, Revati, etc. or an actress Urvashi, they have come out in the open saying that
04:22they welcome the findings of the Hema Commission report and that the change has to begin now.
04:29Men who are accused of sexual misconduct should be penalized and not the women.
04:34What's also interesting to note is that I remember doing an interview with actor Mohanlal
04:39in 2019 in Dubai, where he dismissed it as a fad.
04:44He called Me Too a fad and how he dismissed the entire thing saying that it's just a fashion thing.
04:49It will pass.
04:50It's also interesting to note that none of the filmmakers or major film stars like Prithviraj,
04:55Mohanlal, Mammootty, Fahad Fazal, Dhulkar Salman have come forward and commented on
05:01the Hema Commission report or the instances of sexual misconduct at their workplace.
05:06It takes me back to the interview that I had with the beloved actor, top actor Mohanlal,
05:12who's also the president of the organization called Amma.
05:15He hasn't come out with any statement so far.
05:18My interview with him was all about him calling Me Too a fad.
05:23You should go to Gulf News and check out the interview.
05:26It's very interesting to watch his dismissive stand against it.
05:29But what's interesting now, that was back in 2019.
05:33Now, a few years later, things seem to have changed.
05:36The scenes, the Hema Commission findings have actually triggered and reignited the Me Too movement.
05:43Suddenly, women are coming forward.
05:45And in the next few days, I'm expecting several women to come forward.
05:48Even the ones who earlier made complaints on Facebook or towards WCC or towards Amma,
05:55they may come forward and call out names.
05:58I'm expecting, today Siddique has resigned.
06:00Filmmaker Ranjith has resigned when a Bengali actress, Sri Lekha,
06:05has actually come forward and said he made inappropriate advances against her
06:12when she went to his home to talk about a project.
06:14So he has stepped out from a position of power.
06:18Siddique has resigned as the gen-sec of Amma.
06:22So this is just the beginning of things.
06:24I think several other key figures from Kerala film industry are going to be called out in the next few days.
06:30Watch this space for more.
06:31We have been following the story from day one.
06:34In fact, I've spoken to Thiruvoth about it and how she's lost work.
06:38Because she spoke up for several years.
06:41She had to go through several challenges because she dared to speak up.
06:46And I've spoken to actresses like Revathi who said Mohanlal's dismissive comment
06:53and labelling me too as a fad was very shocking.
06:57So we have followed this issue for a long time.
07:00Stay tuned to Gulf News and you can find out what's happening.
07:03We are keeping our ears and eyes to the ground to give you the latest news
07:08on what's happening in the Kerala film industry, which is known for great films.
07:13But right now, it's not a proud moment for their cinema.