Setting up of internal committees in film production units and conducting awareness programmes for employees are some of the moves film bodies in the State have agreed upon to prevent violence against women in the Malayalam film industry.
Representatives of various film bodies informed a workshop on ‘Gender inclusivity and professionalism in Malayalam cinema’ that necessary measures would be taken to ensure safety of women in cinema.
The four-day workshop that concluded on Sunday was organised by the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation for the Women and Child Development department in order to increase professionalism in the audio-visual sector and making it women-friendly. The technical session on the last day also focused on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act (POSH Act), 2013.
Film producer Ranjith promised full cooperation of producers in implementing steps to prevent harassment of women. The lack of a single workplace for cinema was a major hurdle, he said, pointing out that multiple films were shot at the same time, and people worked on many sets at the same time. How to practically implement the Act needed to be considered. Awareness programmes should be held for production controllers who were in charge of the sets, he said.
Women in Cinema Collective representative Bina Paul said there could be practical difficulties but there was no reason not to implement the Act. Each film set should have an internal committee. These should look into not only major issues but minor ones too. There should be zero tolerance to sexual harassment.
Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) general secretary Edavela Babu said AMMA had constituted an internal committee. However, there was a need for an internal committee for the entire film industry, he said.
Kerala Women’s Commission chairperson P. Satheedevi pointed out that AMMA was only an association and the responsibility of its internal committee was to address complaints of AMMA members. Each film unit should have an internal committee. The producers’ association should give a direction in this regard to each production unit. They should take the stand that a film would be given the nod only if an internal committee was set up.
Let the internal committee first come up and then the problems in it could be addressed, Sohan Seenulal of the Film Employees’ Federation of Kerala said. Each film production would need a committee. Besides addressing problems faced by women related to harassment, those related to lack of basic facilities such as washrooms and travel faced by junior women artistes or assistant directors should also be addressed, he said.
Actors Parvathy Thiruvothu, Rima Kallingal, Maala Parvathi, Sajitha Madathil, and Cuckoo, along with experts and representatives of film bodies, attended the online session. KSWDC managing director V.C. Bindu spoke.
