Ernakulam: The Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) Directors Union has expressed shock at the revelations made by women in the Malayalam cinema industry to the Hema Commission. In a letter addressed to its 21 sub-unions, FEFKA's general secretary conveyed that the federation had no prior knowledge of the "power group" mentioned in the Hema Commission report but emphasised that this claim should be thoroughly investigated.
The letter also refuted the possibility of any single power group controlling the various film organisations in Kerala. “Cinema organisations operate with different objectives, making the existence of a power group controlling all of them impossible,” said the director’s union adding that it holds no enmity towards the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC).
FEFKA also criticised the Hema Commission’s process, alleging that it selectively contacted individuals whose testimonies it was interested in. "They took the contact numbers of those they preferred and recorded only their statements," FEFKA stated. The federation pointed out that despite providing all the contact numbers requested by the commission, only one individual from the list was approached for a statement.
Earlier, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) Secretary, Siddique, also denied any awareness of a power group or mafia nexus within the Malayalam film industry. Malayalam director-screenwriter B Unnikrishnan added that anyone guilty of sexual abuse should be prosecuted, regardless of their position. However, he expressed uncertainty about whether the women who testified to the commission had specifically raised allegations of sexual abuse.
The Justice K Hema Commission was formed in response to the 2017 sexual assault case involving actor Dileep, to investigate issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality in the Malayalam film industry. A censored version of the committee's findings, released on August 19, contains explosive accounts of harassment, exploitation, and mistreatment of women in the industry, triggering a political storm in Kerala.
