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“We need to look at this industry as a microcosm of the larger world that we are living in. And the question remains, is life imitating art or is art imitating life? Either way, we have a problem.” – Rima Kallingal | TEDxThiruvananthapuram
“In Bollywood, activism is a matter of convenience,” writes Sanjana Chakraborty for SilverScreen’s series called ‘Women, Cinema & Sexism’, a sentiment that rings pretty true when you look at the current state of affairs. The #MeToo movement marked a shift in the global narrative on how we talk about and address sexual harassment and gender dynamics. But while the unmasking of predators in Hollywood has not only brought solidarity among women to fight for safe spaces in public and at the workplace, it has also created a situation when women in power have banded together to set up a framework of redressal for those that didn’t have the agency nor support to publicly say ‘Me Too’. More than just saying these two words (words that did take courage to put out there as well), they have taken a step forward, actively working towards solving a deep-rooted problem in the form of Time’s Up.
It’s a very progressive step, at least for someone like me looking in from outside, but closer to home, seeing just how unscathed Bollywood has been by the Harvey Weinstein (and others) scandal and everything that has followed is really not very surprising, at least not for me. One of the largest film industries (and institutions as a whole) in the world, Bollywood was untouched by #MeToo, so to speak, which is ridiculous when you think of the blatant sexism and discrimination that exists in the field. Of course, there were a number of Indian actors and celebrities that posted their #MeToo on social media and spoke about their support for the movement when it took hold over India’s newsfeeds. They appeared in talk shows and videos regarding sexism and the need for change, but very little has come out of this other than PR and marketing strategies. In terms of the real naming of perpetrators, well, any kind of change really, we’re still exactly where we were, aren’t we? So what did #MeToo really do for us in Bollywood, one of the largest influencers of the masses?
The #MeToo wave has come and gone *scratch that* transformed, more like it, and while harassers and predators in Hollywood are getting the comeuppance, here we have hew and cry over why Bollywood is being singled-out when it comes to the discussion of sexism – as proclaimed by Mukesh Bhatt in an interview with Reuters. “What can we do? We cannot do any moral policing,” Bhatt said. “We cannot keep moral cops outside every film office to see that no girl is being exploited” – and the industry’s silence surrounding Jeetendra’s harassment allegation is incredibly telling, making clear their lack of understanding about just how loud it really speaks about them and the industry overall.
It is, in fact, Mollywood that is paving way for women to come together and speak up about harassment, sexism and misogyny in our patriarchal society (and institutions) with the Women In Cinema Collective (WCC). Twenty women from various facets of the industry banded together to ask the questions that we’ve been brushed under the rug for far too long. Finally breaking their silence, but what did it take to finally open Pandora’s box?
In February 2017 a prominent actress of the industry was abducted, physically and sexually assaulted for hours in a moving car before being dumped on the road. The case caught the media’s eye because of the involvement of Dileep, a famous Malayalam actor. The actress knew what it meant to speak out and against such a formidable force in the industry, and took that risk to get the justice she deserves by pressing charges. As Rima Kallingal points out in her biting Ted Talk, the President of the Association of Malayalam Movie Actors’ only comment was that “harassment, sexual harassment, in particular, was a thing of the past.” Its remarks and thinking like this that makes clear associations like the WCC are desperately needed. It is so very easy to disprove his statement simply by looking at social media. Scroll through any female public figure’s comment section and you get to witness things that are beyond simple trolling. As Kallingal states, “We kind of have our whole life figured out for us because they’ll tell us what to wear, what to do, how to act; how to behave as a woman, a daughter-in-law, a wife. For all the life lessons you want, come to our comment section. You’ll also get to know all the different sexual positions that they would like to rape us in.”
“The Vishaka Guidelines, which has been laid out by the Supreme Court of India and has been passed into a law recently, is not followed in such a big movie industry in spite of us paying about 40 percent entertainment tax to the government,” she says.
We’ve begun to accept these aspects of our society and the murky waters of the film industry are being left with mere ripples. We’ve grown accustomed to the dismissal of women and the glorification of harassment in cinema. We have lifted a man accused of domestic abuse, vehicular manslaughter and killing of an endangered animal to a godly status since he’s now very conveniently ‘being human’. What do his growing fanbase and repeatedly multi-crore grossing films portray? That we’re okay with it. How long before there’s another burst of public outcry (that too forgotten once the new cycle changes), and how bad does it need to get before we enact the systemic changes that we need?
The WCC has gotten a barrage of organised trolling and hate recently since their public denunciation of misogyny and harassment in the industry. They’ve been called ‘man-haters’ with ‘ulterior motives’, but it is often that when you give people the vigorous shaking that they need that you get such reactions.
If asking for better wages, better representation on screen and the respect that they deserve is causing such negative reactions then they must be doing something right. For too long has misconduct, the casting couch and sexual harassment been touted as occupational hazards that you have to put up with to get ahead.
It is easier to be a critic when you’re an outsider. Navigating through the many obstacles and surviving and truly making it big in such an industry is not easy, that is clear. No one wants to be blackballed, tagged as the troublemaker and denied work, shunned by the industry big boys and lose out on career opportunities. But how much are you willing to let pass?
Bollywood could take a cue from the women of the Malayalam film industry, being some of our countrymen’s greatest role models. As Kallingal aptly says, “I know the privileged platform that I have. I think it is not possible to stand in the middle of that kind of privilege and not stand up and do what you can for the world that is inspiring us to do out art. It is not possible to turn a blind eye to the unabashed sexism, ageism and casteism that exists in our society and is reflected in our cinema content and in the very fibre of our industry.”
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Feature image courtesy of Deccan Chronicle
