'The way women in the film industry dress these days is not correct. More than concealing, their style of dressing exposes body parts, ' observes veteran actor T Sarada, in the report of the Hema Commission constituted to look into the issues of women in Malayalam cinema and suggest solutions. Sarada has made these observations in the part where individual recommendations of the commission members are included. Sarada is one among the three members of the commission. She also says in the report that there are practical problems in enhancing the participation of women in cinema and that she doesn't favour women's participation in technical studies of cinema and giving Kerala government's assistance to women who are out of job due to delivery and child care.
Under the topic 'sexual harassment' she notes, ''The way many people ( women) in the industry are dressed today is not correct. More than concealing, their style of dressing exposes their body parts.'' After making this observation, she adds, ''In the olden days, there were no conversations with sexual double meanings in the sets. Similarly, there were no sexual assaults on the sets like touching … the actresses, junior artists or technicians. Today it cannot be said that these kinds of harassment do not exist in the film industry ''.
Sarada says in the report that there is a lot of influence of Western culture on our society. Then she adds, '' The society today is different from that of yesteryears. Hence everybody mingles with each other quite openly. Girlfriends and boyfriends are very public now. The culture of new generation is different. Adjustment and compromise are open these days whereas it was not so open then,'' she writes in the report. In the part where she is required to submit suggestions for enhancing the participation of women in all working sectors related to cinema, she talks about practical problems. This is why she feels so. ''The present day women are educated. They argue for their rights. There should be no problem for the producer. He should not be destroyed.’’
On giving scholarships for women in technical sectors of cinema, she says, '' I am not in favour of awarding scholarships to girls since they will stop their studies halfway through. Further, all girls who pass out of schools do not find a job in the film industry. I am not in favour of enhancing women's participation in technical studies of cinema.’’Sarada even writes that the Government need not offer assistance to women who are out of job due to delivery and child care. According to Sarada, help is needed only in case of accidents. Onmanorama reached out to members of Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) seeking their response to Sarada's observations in the report. A member said that she has not read the report and she doesn't know in what context these observations were made. Onmanorama also contacted T Sarada for comments, but despite repeated calls and messages, she didn't respond. Queries seeking comments were also sent to women technicians, including prominent women directors, but they didn't respond.