A harrowing incident brought to light by a female actor in the recently-released Hema Committee reports paints a stark picture of the toxic environment in the Malayalam film industry.
During a film shoot, the actress had to endure a deeply uncomfortable scene where she was forced to repeatedly hug a man who had previously abused her. Her distress was so evident that it took 17 retakes to complete the scene. Her resentment and hatred had reflected on her face, during shooting. The director, rather than addressing the root cause of her discomfort, criticised her for the delay, demonstrating a callous disregard for her emotional well-being.

“On the next day onwards she had to work with the same man as husband and wife, hugging each other. That was terrible because of what was done to her during the shooting her resentment and hatred had reflected during shooting,” the report said.

“In cinema there is a general assumption that women come to cinema for making money and she will surrender to anything. The men in cinema cannot even imagine that it is because of the passion for art and acting that a woman comes to the movie. But the impression is they are coming for fame and money and they will sleep with any man for getting a chance in a movie,” the report observed.

“If a person thinks that a woman is a problem-maker, she will not be called to the cinema again. Therefore, women who are passionate of acting will be suffering all the atrocities, silently. To a question put by the Committee to this witness whether other women in cinema had same experience, she said may be they have, but they are scared to state their problems openly,” the report added.