The 235-page report released by the Justice K Hema Committee on the sexual harassment of women in the Malayalam film industry on Monday, August 19, has sparked widespread discussion. It uncovered 17 forms of exploitation against women, including pay disparity, rape threats, and unsolicited sexual remarks. The committee was formed in response to a demand by the Women In Cinema Collective, following the 2017 incident involving a female Malayalam actor who was sexually assaulted in a moving vehicle in Kochi. One of the accused in the case was Malayalam actor Dileep.
The Hema Committee report has met with strong reactions from many in Mollywood, including actors Revathy and Ranjini. Now, in an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, Tanushree Dutta, who spearheaded the #MeToo movement in 2018 when she accused— for the second time — Nana Patekar of sexual misconduct on the sets of Horn Ok Pleassss, responds to the Hema Committee report. She says, “These committees and reports, I don’t understand them. I think they’re useless. It took them seven years to make a report on what happened in 2017?”
She refers to the Vishakha Committee (previously known as the Women’s Grievances Committee), which is aimed at preventing sexual harassment in the workplace, and adds, “What’s the point of this new report anyway? All they had to do was arrest the accused and enforce a strong law and order system. I remember hearing about the Vishakha Committee, which came up with so many guidelines and prepared pages and pages of reports, but what happened after that? The names of the committees just keep changing.”
Tanushree continues, “People like Nana and Dileep are narcissistic psychopaths. There’s no cure for them. Only a vicious and vengeful man can do what they did. I don’t care about these committees. I have no trust in this system. It feels like with these reports and committees, they’re just wasting our time rather than doing the real work. Having a safe workplace is a basic right for a woman—or any human being, for that matter.”
Following the publication of the Hema Committee report, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan stated that the state government is working towards formulating a comprehensive cinema law to ensure women’s safety. Sharing her thoughts on this, Tanushree says, “All this is just talk. Action is needed. Who even follows all this paperwork? Even if they come up with a comprehensive cinema law, those who want to break the law will still break it. These predators are all mentally ill. They aren’t in their right minds, yet they manage to find support among other crazy and psychotic people.”
When asked about her stance on Dileep finding work despite the allegations, and Parvathy Thiruvothu—who has repeatedly raised her voice against sexual discrimination—being denied opportunities, Tanushree says, “That’s the weirdest thing. There’s no compassion. When it comes to actresses, male actors are prejudiced. They look down on their female counterparts as second-class citizens. You’re supposed to stay in line, behave a certain way, not open your mouth too much, and not complain about anything. If something really bad happens, we’re supposed to accept it as our fate without making a big issue out of it.”
Tanushree adds, “People don’t look at actresses as human beings but as morally corrupt entities—which is a very rudimentary perception—who don’t have the right to dignity. We aren’t asking to be treated like queens, but we have the right to be treated with dignity and the right to protest. They use their male ego to reduce you to someone who’s a nuisance.”
While she lauds the #MeToo movement, she believes that a stronger outcome would have set a healthier precedent. “#MeToo was such a good opportunity to set the record straight because it involved high-profile women and many witnesses. Punishments should have been enforced, but they all escaped because of corruption. It was an amazing movement, but some people just couldn’t stand up,” points out Tanushree.
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