A report of sexual assault in one of India’s most respected film industries has sparked a wave of protests in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, OWNER:
Quote: “The sky is full of mystery, with twinkling stars and a beautiful moon. But scientific investigation has revealed that the stars don’t twinkle, and the moon isn’t beautiful.” Those warnings opened a groundbreaking government report that found that women were routinely sexually assaulted in one of India’s most prestigious film industries. The release of that report has sparked a dizzying #MeToo-style reckoning. And a word of warning—our report contains disturbing details of sexual assault. This is NPR’s Diaa Hadid in Mumbai.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Bollywood is India’s most famous film industry, but there are many others, like Mollywood in the southern state of Kerala.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (As characters, singing in a language other than English).
HADID: Bollywood is well-regarded for creating hit films from stories that tackle taboos in India’s patriarchal society, like “The Great Indian Kitchen.”
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Family is a universal group – the family based on marriage.
HADID: Anna Vetticad is a film critic.
ANNA VETTICAD: “The Great Indian Kitchen” explores the oppression that takes place in the kitchen space of a patriarchal, upper-caste Hindu home. It tells a universal story that women across the country can relate to, which is why I think it went viral.
HADID: She calls the industry Malayalam cinema. That’s the language spoken in Kerala.
VETTICAD: So the irony is that Malayalam cinema deals with patriarchy in a very beautiful way.
HADID: It’s ironic because Mollywood actresses have been fighting for years to hold predators in the industry accountable. It all started in early 2017 after actress Bhavana Menon was abducted and sexually assaulted by several men in a car. Another man filmed it. She reported it to the police, which was unusual at the time for a working actress. Police arrested a Mollywood star named Dileep on charges of planning the crime. Local media reported that he sought revenge after the actress told his wife that he was having an affair. Dileep denied the allegations. The case has been delayed in court.
PARVATHY THIRUVOTHU: What happened to our colleague changed our lives. The shock has not left us yet.
HADID: Parvathy Thiruvothu is a prominent Mollywood actress and one of the dozen or so founders of the Women in Cinema Collective to demand change after the Menon attack. They successfully lobbied the Kerala government to set up a committee to investigate working conditions for women in the industry.
THIRUVOTHU: We decided we would pay any price, no matter what the price was.
HADID: Because they realized how dangerous their workplaces were. The commission completed its report five years ago, but the government then refused to release it, citing privacy concerns. Momentum grew after Bhavana Menon went public, identifying herself as a victim of that 2017 attack. She later told a journalist…
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BHAVANA MENON: I was broken into a million pieces. My self-esteem, like, was ripped away from me. I just want to say that this is what happened in my life.
HADID: The government finally released its report on August 19. It found that Mollywood has an entrenched culture where women and men are forced to have sex for jobs. They can be blacklisted if they refuse. In response, the general secretary of a leading actors’ union, a prominent actor, told journalists that he was unaware of the casting couch culture, but that years ago an actress had accused him of assault. Two days later…
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We have some breaking news coming up. After the sex…
HADID: The actress went public with her allegations again. This time she was taken seriously. The police launched an investigation. The actor denied the allegations but resigned. Two other board members of the same association were charged with similar crimes. Then all the office-bearers of the association announced they would resign. The police formed a special investigation team. They filed cases against nearly 20 people for alleged assault in hotel rooms, on film sets. An actress claimed a director asked her for sex in exchange for removing intimate scenes from a film, scenes she was uncomfortable with. There were cases against directors, actors, writers, producers. It was a big change, and it all started, says actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, with a report that took women seriously.
THIRUVOTHU: I feel like these are women who are emerging because they suddenly feel like they have an opportunity to be believed.
HADID: The Kerala state government is now under test after the police registered a case against an actor-turned-lawmaker.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (Does not speak any language other than English).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking language other than English).
HADID: Women are holding protests demanding his resignation.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking language other than English).
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (Does not speak any language other than English).
HADID: One protester said the government is sheltering predators, not women.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking language other than English).
HADID: It recalls the introduction to the report that triggered this reckoning. It warned, don’t believe everything you see. Even salt looks like sugar. Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.
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