Who wouldn’t want to be the next big thing in the Malayalam film industry? But would you still want to be one if you knew that:
An actress is shooting for a film that will go on to be a super hit. She is about to wrap up when the producer demands a shot in the water. She refuses because it’s not in her contract. He doesn’t budge – she has to do it or she’s not going home. She gives in.
An actress is shooting for a film in a remote village in Kerala. The producer doesn’t organise restroom facilities despite repeated requests. She decides to hold it in – and not drink water at all. For a week. She ends up in hospital with a severe urinary tract infection.
It’s a February night. An actress is being driven home after filming. Another car crashes into hers. An accident? No, it’s a trap to blackmail her. Her driver is involved too. A group of men get into the carand she is sexually assaulted and filmed. The mastermind is a man hired by film crews to ferry actresses around.
The third incident is still fresh in public memory, and has shaken up the film industry and female artists. The main accused, including Sunil Kumar Surendran, have been arrested.
The attack has “created a momentum in the industry” and prompted several women to attempt to organise themselves into a collective, said Bina Paul, the Vice President of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy and the artistic director of the International Film Festival of Kerala. “Women in cinema are thinking of coming together,” Paul added. “There’s no point in being alone in the battle.” The main concerns are “security and providing basic facilities such as restrooms for women”, Paul added. “The film industry isn’t a defined and structured workplace. It’s an informal set up. It’s about time we defined what this workplace is.”
Poor working conditions
The acclaimed actress Padmapriya has experienced the indignities of the fluidly defined workplace several times. Padmapriya has, on occasion, not been given a separate changing room, and has been expected to use an assistant as a human shield to change costumes between shots. “Sometimes the position of an actress is that of a person on the street,” said the National Film Award winner. “You are given no value and your time is not worth anything.”
An actress may be booked for a 20-day shoot even though she doesn’t have to shoot for more than 10 days. She is expected to wait around, often in her hotel room, thus denying her the chance to work on other projects. This is unlikely to happen to an established actor.
The only way for women to gain more respect in the industry is to have more films made about them, Padmapriya said. A collective of female actresses, filmmakers and technicians is an idea whose time has come, she added. “When things go wrong, you need a confidante outside of the male-dominated film set,” Padmapriya said. “You need a support system, an advocate, a space to just talk where there is no fear of repercussions on your career.”
The Kerala film industry does have unions, including the Film Employees Federation of Kerala, which protects the rights of its members, ranging from drivers to spot boys and directors to editors. There is also the Association of Malayalam Movie Actors. Although both organisations have female members, there is no separate union for women working in various capacities in the Malayalam film industry.
‘Not about being anti-men’
The proposed collective has a precedent in the form of the Indian Women Cinematographers Collective, the only one of its kind in the country. It was founded in 2015 by cinematographer Fowzia Fathima, a state award winner whose films include Mudhal Mudhal Mudhal Varai and Mitr, My Friend. The group has more than 70 members, including Priya Seth (Airlift), Deepti Gupta (Honeymoon Travels Private Limited) and Savita Singh (Ventilator, Hawaizaada).
“Collectives do make a difference,” Fathima said. “They are not about being anti-men. It’s about getting to talk face to face with people in your field, about finding solutions together, about how we can work on projects together.”
A collective will also address what Bina Paul termed as “the nature of patriarchy, which puts women against women”. Paul said, “Women in the film industry tend to live in this cocoon where issues such as equal pay are not a priority. You’re thinking, is somebody else prettier than me? Am I darker than her? How do I stop her getting ahead?” It is time that more serious issues are taken up at higher levels, Paul said. “We are pushing for all film policies and regulations to take gender into account.”
The Kerala film industry is well placed to lead the way. It has given the country such progressive filmmakers as G Aravindan and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and routinely churns out well-regarded films with strong social messages. It’s time for Kerala to add another feather to its cap, Padmapriya said – to “create a policy on better participation, a better environment and better working conditions for women”.
The women need to take the lead, the actress added. “We first need to start doing it ourselves.”
