Days after meeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) released a list of demands on September 14, to streamline the functioning of the Malayalam film industry. The demands cover five main concerns: reporting and redressal mechanisms, contracts, basic rights, insurance and the introduction of official ID cards.
Reporting and redressal mechanisms
Saying that “announcements of reform don’t always result in change,” the WCC demanded a mobile phone application that can alert industry authorities and the government when harassment is reported through WhatsApp and email with photographic or videographic evidence. The complaints registered through WhatsApp or email complaints can be routed to this application that will automatically alert the relevant powers, WCC suggested.
On September 11, when the collective met the CM, they had asked for the Malayalam film industry to be brought under the scope of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act or PoSH Act. Referring to this, the WCC on September 15 said that promises of reform alone don’t always lead to change. They asked how a workplace such as the Malayalam film industry that does not even follow the legally-mandated guidelines of the PoSH Act can be trusted to implement reform measures.
“If the reforms are not tokenistic, and are really intended to make a difference, then the communication has to be two-way,” the WCC said. They added that a reporting mechanism has to be put in place to establish accountability when there is malpractice or a noncompliance with the reforms. This mechanism should factually record these instances of malpractice or noncompliance, verify it with evidence and escalate the matter in order to take immediate action, WCC said.
Once the malpractice/non-compliance report is made, the WCC has proposed the following redressal mechanisms to be carried out by an autonomous system:
Maintenance of official records of every complaint, with evidence.
Establish immediate contact with the complainant (help hotline).
Verification of evidence.
Enquiry about circumstances and reasons.
Report complaint to authorities in higher levels
Issuance of fines/corrective/ punitive action.
Maintenance of records about non-compliant members of the industry.
Contracts for all
The informal nature of work in the industry — which includes a lack of legal contracts or grievance redressal mechanism, was highlighted in the Hema Committee report. The report shed light on how the lack of contracts allowed directors to abuse their power over female actors, such as blackmailing them to act in intimate scenes despite not wanting to.
In this regard, the WCC has suggested:
Employment contracts for all cine employees.
Contracts must specify the film’s title, employer and employee details.
Specify remuneration, payment terms, work profile, work duration and credits.
Include PoSH clauses in every contract.
Bring in film industry-approved contract templates for cast and crew.
Mechanism to report breach of contract.
Contracts for term employees.
Release forms for daily wage employees.
Basic rights for all
The lack of safe changing rooms and caravans for both lead female actors and ‘secondary’ women artists, lack of toilets for women, the treatment of junior artists like “slaves”, were also issues brought out by the Hema Committee report. As preventive measures, the WCC has now recommended:
Serve uniform meals to all cast and crew members, on time (with an exception for special dietary needs).
Daily work hours comparable to other film industries.
Clean mobile toilets for people of all gender identities.
Mobile changing rooms which are to be coordinated with the costume department.
Maintain an abuse-free respectful working environment.
Insurance
The WCC has also highlighted the needs and benefits of insuring every film.
The collective says that insurance costs only 1-3 % of the film’s total budget and offers security for the production team, and protects the cast and crew of the film.
WCC also said that the insurance must:
Include pre-production, production and post production.
Cover accidents, property damage, bodily injury, equipment, props, sets, wardrobe, unseasonal weather, ill-health, and more according to the chosen policy provisions.
They highlighted how insurance minimises physical risk for the employees and financial risk for the producer and further “help streamline the production process.”
Identification cards
The WCC has further recommended that ID cards should be issued to all employees on each film set. And that a permanent ID card should be issued to film industry employees.
“The film industry operates in a fluid framework in terms of workspaces and work hours depending on the production plan of every film. The majority of the working crew are regular film employees. Yet there is no system to identify bonafide film employees working in this industry, or bonafide film projects,” they said.
The WCC also added, “Film employee IDs will provide a professional identity to every employee. This will help streamline employment practices in the film industry.” Meanwhile ID cards for each film, will provide a project identity to every film, enabling proper accountability to be placed with the producer and employees for all activities undertaken, they said.
WCC suggested that every film employee in the industry should procure a one-time ID for oneself by registering their name, skill, Government ID, PAN card information, etc. with the Government. This ID number should be quoted for every job they undertake. “Anyone can verify the individual by looking up the ID number online (on a dedicated website) to identify the given details including the current film the person is working on,” they said.
Those who have worked in two or more films should get a permanent ID card, while a temporary one can be issued to those with work experience in less than two films, they proposed.