Kerala: Panel to probe state of women in cinema

Thiruvananthapuram: For the first time in the country, perhaps even the world, a committee has been constituted to probe into the condition of women in a film industry. The state cabinet on Wednesday appointed a three-member committee headed by retired High Court judge K Hema, with former bureaucrat K.B. Valsala Kumari and yesteryear actor Sarada as members, to study the problems and work conditions of women in Malayalam film industry. The terms of reference of the committee will be decided later.

Such a committee was one of the many demands put forward by the newly-formed Women’s Collective in Cinema when they met Chief Minister Chief Minister in May. The Collective, which was formed a month after a leading female star was subjected to violence, is made up of some of the leading artistes and technicians in the industry.

The members of the Collective, whose defining slogan is ‘equal opportunity, equal pay’, had a set of questions to the Chief Minister. Was it possible to set up an internal complaint mechanism for the duration of a film shoot?  Why were even trained women reluctant to work in the Malayalam industry? Is there a deep gender insensitivity that is endemic to the Malayalam industry? How does patriarchy function in the industry to render women talents dispensable? “These are broadly the issues the three-member committee will look into,” a top source in the Chief Minister’s office said. The committee, the source said, will visit shooting sets and interact with stakeholders.

One of the topmast female stars, Parvathy, had gone on record saying that she had received less than both Fahadh Fazil and Kunchacko Boban for the film Take Off, in which she ironically had the most important role. “Pay parity is a tricky issue,” said Sofia Paul, perhaps the only active female producer in the industry. “When a superstar like Mohanlal is in a film, even if he has only the same or even lesser importance than a female actor in the film, it is only natural that he is paid the most. The market is the villain,” Ms Paul. “But in my film Kaadu Pookkunna Neram, both Indrajith and Rima Kallingal were paid the same amount,” she said.