A Collective effort

The women in the film industry have formed an outfit calledWomen in Cinema Collective to address the problems thay face and have sought Government support

At lunch rooms, in midday conversations, when people chat about the ways of the world, someone would invariably start talking about the women in cinema and how they are all ‘adjusting’ in many different ways. Yet, when young actor Parvathi spoke about casting couch in Malayalam cinema in an interview, the world reacted like it is something unheard of before. ‘Really, in Malayalam cinema?’ they asked. Parvathi was, as is the practice of social media when anything slightly disagreeable happens, verbally thrashed.

When singer Sayanora had an issue with an Uber driver in Kochi, there was nobody to support her. A woman makeup artiste is finding it hard to make an entry in cinema because of hostile anti-women attitudes.

The instances became many, for women, to call out to one another, and talk. They have been discussing the need of a collective for the women in the film industry. But it gained urgency with the attack on a young actor earlier this year in Kochi. On Thursday, finally, a few of them went to the office of the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and demanded government support for their collective, called Women in Cinema Collective.

“The government intervention can come in several places. To make it mandatory to have a sexual harassment complaints committee for film registration, to have a committee that would recognise issues women face in the industry and find a solution, to hire women in technical wings of production houses, to have scholarships for women in film study courses and more such initiatives,” says Vidhu Vincent, national award-winning director, and a core member of the collective.

Photos of the CM meeting the women including actors Manju Warrier, Rima Kallingal, Parvathi, Remya Nambeesan, directors Anjali Menon and Vidhu, singer Sayanora, and editor and IFFK artistic director Bina Paul Venugopal had splashed all over the internet. “The collective would study the gender divide in the film industry, and be concerned with the women’s security, welfare, incentive to studies and equal opportunity at work, among other things,” says Bina Paul hurriedly, on her way to meet the CM.

The issues that women face in the industry are plenty, Vidhu says. “I only wonder why we took so long to form such a collective. It is not a trade union. We are thinking of what form it should be – an association, or trust etc.” She too has faced discrimination as a woman while she shot Manhole. “I faced it when I was the director. So imagine the plight of junior artistes or hairdressers etc.?”

Senior actor Sajitha Madathil talks about the story of Nitha Antony, a makeup artiste who had to run helter-skelter when she was denied a membership at FEFKA. “She had studied the course at the Pattanam Rasheed institute, but could not get a membership because they don’t take women. She could be a hairdresser if she wanted. Nitha didn’t file any complaint. She went to Mumbai and got a card. But even then somehow she is blocked in the industry, through indirect ways. She is not called for workshops or seminars, she couldn’t find an assistant, she is sidelined in every way possible,” Sajitha says.

Sayanora remembers her Uber incident, when a few months ago, she hired the taxi service in Ernakulam and there was a heated exchange with rick drivers. “I had wished at the time that someone should have been there to turn to. There are major issues in the film industry which requires a support system for women. Because the industry is so unpredictable, a lot of women shy away from it. And there are so many exploitations,” Sayanora says. “There are instances when women are asked for ‘favours’ for chance. I have been asked. What you do then is to say no or to avoid such people. But we don’t talk about it in the open. But it shouldn’t go on and on,” she says.