“I have not heard knocks on my door. I don’t know of safety issues in the Malayalam film industry,” said actor Jomol in response to the findings of the Hema Committee report on the working conditions of women in Malayalam cinema. Jomol, who began her career as a child artist, had won a national award in 1997 for her performance in the Malayalam film Ennu Swantham Janakikutty. In it, she played a rebellious young girl at odds with her conservative family, a stark contrast to her demure response to the incidence of workplace sexual harassment raised by her female colleagues.
Jomol made the statement while accompanied by office bearers of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) including then general secretary Siddique, who had to resign in the next two days following allegations of sexual assault. The organisation, which claims to work towards the welfare of cine artists in the state, was responding to the report after four days of conspicuous silence, only to downplay its findings.
The Hema Committee, constituted by the Kerala government in the aftermath of the 2017 actor assault case and the formation of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), found that there is a power lobby consisting of top-tier male actors, producers, and directors who control the Malayalam film industry. It also cited that sexual harassment is rampant in the industry. Quoting witnesses who deposed before the Committee, the report said that some women called the midnight knocks at their rooms “forceful enough to break the door down.”
Siddique dismissed these findings as hearsay and passed the mic to Jomol, insisting that the women among them must speak about harassment. Jomol downplayed the problem and said that she has not faced inconveniences or unsettling advances at the workplace.
“Everyone knows how long I have worked in cinema. Nobody has spoken badly to me, knocked on my door, or asked me for sexual favours in exchange for opportunities,” Jomol immediately said.
Jomol is entitled to share her experiences, but she went ahead to claim that harassment is unheard of in the industry and that she has only read about such things in newspapers, thus reducing the magnitude of the issue at hand. Soon after, she was widely criticised by several people for negating the struggles of women in the industry, and for invalidating the courage survivors have shown to reveal some of their deepest, darkest nightmares.
The problem with individualising systemic harassment
Screenwriter Deedi Damodaran, who is one of the founding members of the WCC, came out with a studied, pointed response to Jomol. While acknowledging Jomol’s right to speak her truth, Deedi said that an individual’s testimony must not negate the collective problems of women as a marginalised group.
“One of the stalwarts of Malayalam cinema made a film called Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback. Many female actors have passed away mysteriously, and nobody has been held accountable for their deaths. When newer actors like Jomol speak, it is important to not forget the injustices meted out to those who came before us and vanished mysteriously from the industry. It would be good to look at how her fellow beings have been living as well,” Deedi said.
Directed by veteran filmmaker KG George, Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback (1983) followed the life and death of a young actor called Lekha (performed by Nalini). The film showcased how Lekha was propelled into sex work out of poverty and how she eventually became a successful actor who died by suicide at the peak of her career after the failure of a love affair with a popular film-maker. It was widely speculated that the film was based on actor Sobha, who also died very young (17 years), and was married to director Balu Mahendra. The reason for her untimely and unfortunate death by suicide remains unknown to date. KG George himself admitted in his autobiography that the inspiration to create Lekha was the life and death of Sobha.
In her print review of the film from 1983, journalist Gita Aravamudan called the film “unexpectedly sensitive” in how it portrays the pressures of a young girl who joins the film industry. Gita noted that when Lekha gets into an affair with a popular director who already has a wife and a child, “though her lover calls their relationship an adjustment, the love-starved young girl thinks that she has found a permanent anchor.” It is interesting to note that George uses the word “adjustment” in the film, a term the Hema Committee report, which came out 40 years after Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback, dedicates an entire subhead to, calling it a widely used term in the industry by men who seek sexual favours.
In her review, Gita recalled her interview with actor Hema Malini, who, when asked about her relationship with the “much married, hard-drinking superstar” Dharmendra, said that she was only a kid when she entered the industry. Citing that Lekha could be many women other than Sobha, Gita wrote, “It raises yet again the question feminists all over the world are asking about a woman’s priorities, her moral values, and her needs.”
This brings us back to Deedi Damodaran’s response to Jomol, about the importance of contextualising the history of systemic harassment in the entertainment industry before dismissing the problem by individualising it. When a woman chooses to do this, she ends up pandering to the powerful and alienating those who fight the uphill battle for gender equality – the only movement she herself can fall back on, should she face abuse from the very same power elite.
A point of political introspection
To quote a more promising, relieving response, this is what actor Urvashi, who recently won the Kerala state award for her stunning performance in Christo Tommy’s Ullozhukku, said: “It is AMMA who must intervene first. Some women may have had great experiences. But several others don’t have support or help and feel extremely traumatised by the bad experiences they face. It is non-negotiable that AMMA and the government must step in here to address the concerns such women have. Giving escapist responses is not done anymore.”
Urvashi is a senior actor who has worked in films across languages for over four decades. She seems to draw a middle ground between Jomol and Deedi – while she says that her experiences in the workplace have been satisfactory, she also stresses the importance of standing by anyone who has a different perspective to share. More importantly, she brings the focus back on those with the power to effect change, i.e., AMMA and the state government, headed by men who uphold and perpetuate rigid power hierarchies.
This is hardly the first time that sexual harassment allegations have been raised by women in cinema, and the influential men in the Malayalam film industry or the government have conveniently overlooked them. Neither AMMA nor any of its power centres demanded a probe against former AMMA secretary Siddique, who was accused of grave sexual assault by a female actor in 2019, while she was still a young adult. Social pressure forced him to quit on August 25, after she reiterated her allegation following the Hema Committee report. Even now, questions arise about the delay in initiating a suo motu police probe against him.
Big stars like Mammootty and Mohanlal have not yet responded to the report, and there has been radio silence from the younger, more popular actors and directors, save a countable few. Many among these actors, producers, and directors have been accused by multiple women of harassment and assault.
Mohanlal is the current president of AMMA, the very same organisation that said they would stand by both the survivor and the accused when a female actor was sexually assaulted in a moving car in Kochi. Soon, actor Dileep was arrested for allegedly conspiring and orchestrating the assault. Several female actors, including the survivor herself, resigned from the organisation in protest, and to date, AMMA has maintained that they can ‘reapply for membership if they wish’. The actors’ organisation went ahead to make fun of these women in their skits using innuendos, as also noted by the Hema Committee report.
Actor Mukesh, also accused of sexual harassment, who is a sitting MLA of the ruling Left Democratic Front government in Kerala, said that the Hema Committee is not a Commission with judicial powers and that its findings do not bind the government to take action. KB Ganesh Kumar, the incumbent Minister for Transport, is also a prominent actor, who was a former office bearer of AMMA and MACTA (Malayalam Cine Technicians’ Association). He too said that he is personally unaware of the allegations mentioned in the report.
Minister for Culture, Saji Cherian, has repeatedly made it clear that the government will act only if women come up with individual complaints.
After the Hema Committee report came to light, Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra accused director Ranjith Balakrishnan of misbehaviour. To this, Saji Cherian responded that Ranjith, who is also the current chairman of the Kerala Film Academy, is a renowned talent, and he cannot be asked to step down based on an allegation.
Ranjith eventually had to resign after pressure mounted. However, he dismissed the allegations against him as a “targeted effort” which he indicated were politically motivated.
Jomol’s response, therefore, is a continuation of the dismissive, victim-blaming culture that is systemically endorsed by both the state and the Malayalam film industry. Pitting women against women by propping up the more privileged among them to negate the struggles of the others is quite a common tactic used to put the credibility of the women’s movement in question.
Jomol’s privilege may prevent her from seeing through this. However, it is also important to recognise that she is not the most powerful player here, considering AMMA itself is a highly autocratic organisation which did not even have elections until very recently. In a system that is designed for women to fail, perhaps pandering to power is a survival choice many of them make, either out of their own volition or out of sheer coercion.
The men who own and run the show, some of whom are even ministers, are more liable to give answers. In that sense, the Hema Committee report has also brought us, as a society, to a poignant moment of political introspection about what our feminist ideology must entail. Would we rather make this about blaming women like Jomol for denying such systemic issues, or ask the right questions to those who have the power to change things for everyone?
The fundamental question at hand is of safety, parity, and power consolidation in a highly capitalist, exploitative workplace. While we fix accountability, we must first look at who holds more power, and that definitely is the government and organisations like AMMA, though it is disheartening, infuriating even, when women like Jomol respond insensitively.
Views expressed are the author's own.
The formation of the Hema Commission was triggered by the shocking abduction and sexual assault of a top female actor in Kerala in February 2017. The crime was executed by a gang of men who were allegedly hired by superstar Dileep. Read in detail about the case here:
