The Casting Couch: Indian cinema’s women are fighting sexual harassment and unequal pay

In 2017, popular TV anchor Johnny Luckose asked Mohanlal, superstar of south India’s ‘Mollywood’ (the nickname for the Malayalam film industry, located in Kerala), about the top gossip of the day: that the actor had celebrated after sleeping with his 3,000th woman. Mohanlal sarcastically brushed it off, saying the number was more.

Misogyny and patriarchy are regularly portrayed and accepted in Indian movies. And it was widely suspected that sexual exploitation was rampant in the film industries all over India; but no one ever spoke out about it publicly. Until Mollywood actress Karthika Menon, aka Bhavana, finally pricked the industry’s bubble of lies and bonhomie.

Assaulted in a moving vehicle in February 2017, Bhavana complained to police. Her colleague Dileep (56), a popular but mediocre actor obsessed with stardom, was arrested. The immunity celebrities enjoyed disappeared, rewriting Mollywood’s history.

Kerala’s Left Front government formed a seven-member police team to probe the atrocities faced by women in Mollywood. Bhavana’s colleagues would not relent and formed the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) in 2017.

Under pressure from the WCC, the state government appointed a committee to probe the sexual exploitation of women actors. Headed by retired High Court judge K Hema, the all-women committee included veteran actress Sarada and retired bureaucrat KB Valsala Kumari.

The committee finalized a 235-page report that was submitted in 2019 but only made public, after being redacted, on August 19 this year, almost five years later. It led to sensational headlines last week, and to several heads rolling in Mollywood.

This was the first time that the casting couch – a global euphemism for demanding sexual favors in exchange for entry into the industry – was put on record. India’s films are produced in more than 20 cities and regions, in more than 30 languages, but one thing that they all have in common is that no one talks about the casting couch. It is only evidenced by the way their movies glorify patriarchy and misogyny.

The recent fallout

The Hema committee report’s findings prompted further revelations by actresses, throwing Kerala into turmoil.

Director Ranjith, whose movies glorify misogyny, resigned on August 25 as head of the Kerala State Chalachitra (Motion Picture) Academy moments after actor Siddique stepped down as the general secretary of the powerful Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). Both were giant falls.

Actor Mohanlal (64) stepped down as AMMA president on August 27. Following his resignation the AMMA executive committee dissolved – apparently without the consent of all its members. Hailed by fans as the ultimate actor, Mohanlal shied from the media and quietly left.

Mammotty (72), an industry icon hailed as a maha-actor (thespian) by fans, was silent.

Their contemporary, Mollywood superstar Suresh Gopi, pushed reporters aside when asked about the sexual harassment allegations against actor Mukesh. Gopi, whose real-life persona is at odds with his patriarchal and turbulent characters, is a member of parliament of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Kerala. Mukesh is a two-time legislator of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). This has put the CPI-M in a spot, as the clamor for his resignation grows. The actors until a few days ago held unchallenged clout.

“We welcome the committee’s recommendations,” senior actor Jagadeesh, who is AMMA vice-president, said. “The workspace environment should be conducive for both men and women. The working space is important and everyone should feel comfortable in it, without room for atrocities. We should learn from the past and not repeat it in the future. Women shouldn’t suffer anymore.”

What the report says

The Hema report itself, despite its redactions, is horrifying, and an eye-opener. It begins: “The sky is full of mysteries; with the twinkling stars and the beautiful moon. But, a scientific investigation revealed that stars do not twinkle nor does the moon look beautiful.”

The committee “surprisingly” found that certain men also had suffered in the film industry and many, including prominent artists, were illegally banned from working in cinema for frivolous reasons.

The committee found sexual demands made on women for entry and chances to work; sexual harassment; abuse; and assault in the workplace, on transportation, and at places of accommodation.

Actresses also spoke of torture “if they expressed resentment and unwillingness to submit to sexual demands.” The committee found a violation of human rights by not providing basic facilities like toilets and changing rooms at shooting locations. “Women on set don’t have access to water, to facilities to change or dispose of sanitary napkins, are forced to hold urine, and don’t drink water on location to prevent the urge to urinate,” the report reads.

Other findings included bans on individuals, silencing women, gender bias, discrimination in pay, online harassment, and the absence of any legal-redress mechanism.

Sexual harassment, and the casting couch

“…We unhesitatingly conclude that sexual harassment etc is shockingly rampant in the film industry and it remains unchecked and uncontrolled,” the report says. “Well-known and well-reputed for their ability as artists and directors, they have shocked women in cinema with sexual harassment and physical advances. The major issue that women face in the film industry is sexual harassment, it is the worst evil. ‘Compromise’ and ‘adjustment’ are two terms that are familiar among women and thereby they are asked to make themselves available for sex on demand.”

According to the report, once the WCC was formed, women started disclosing details to one another. It found that women in Mollywood do not find it safe to stay alone; in hotels intoxicated male colleagues would repeatedly bang on their doors; and on occasion they feared the door would collapse and let the man in.

The committee was “convinced that WCC members are generally not considered for work” because they protested against atrocities in the industry. It has emerged that a famous actor referred to a Mollywood power group as a mafia that could do as it wished. “The power group imposed a ban on actors, technicians, producers, etc,” the report stated.

Jagadeesh asked the government to clarify why certain parts of the findings were omitted. “If this concerns privacy, that is fine,” he said. But people beyond the film fraternity have the right to know, he felt.

Rampant in Bollywood, too

Bollywood, Mumbai-based home to the Hindi film industry, is the country’s most powerful. Female actors have spoken out about untoward practices in the past. Isha Koppikar spoke of being a victim of nepotism and the casting couch in Bollywood.

Shakti Kapoor, once Bollywood’s busiest actor, was caught in a “sting operation” (by a news channel’s hidden camera) making lewd advances and inviting a reporter, posing as an aspiring actress, to his literal couch. The visuals caused widespread outrage. A video clip of actor Aman Verma surfaced in 2005 showing him allegedly soliciting sexual favors from an aspiring actress in exchange for a movie role.

Radhika Apte, a promising Bollywood actress, revealed she was acquainted with many in the industry who encountered the casting couch. Actress Prachi Desai disclosed that a man decides how the industry wants you to act, and about the direct and indirect attempts to harass her, and how she responded.

Actress Richa Chadha spoke about how her casting-couch horrors, while colleague Swara Bhaskar has spoken out against sexual harassment on numerous occasions.

Mayank Tewari, a Bollywood script writer, told RT that the Hema committee findings are appalling. “Until and unless something like this happens there can’t be a structural change in an industry,” he said. “This kind of industry order should happen from time to time and industry bodies should make changes in the right direction. Kerala’s movie industry is well organized, maybe because the state is ruled by a communist government. This can be followed by other state governments.”

Tollywood secrets

Telangana is another southern Indian state; its film industry is nicknamed ‘Tollywood’ and its movie output rivals Bollywood’s. Here, the government formed a high-level committee in the aftermath of the MeToo movement, owing to the civil society demands and a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ in the High Court in 2019. The 25-member committee comprised the city police commissioner and government officials, representatives of the film and television industry, civil society members, and others.

A year earlier, Tollywood actress Sri Reddy launched the MeToo campaign in the industry. The actress disclosed about the casting couch, naming industry biggies and campaigned to end sexual harassment. The high-level committee set up a sub-committee that between 2019 and 2022 met over 20 times and submitted a report. The then BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) government shelved it. Civil society members made multiple requests to make the report public after a Congress government came to power in 2023, but in vain.

A. Suneetha, a member of the sub-committee and a Gender Studies scholar, told RT that the Telangana government was not making the report public as there is no one to apply pressure from within its film industry.

“In Telangana, even well-known film personalities of the high-level committee are not raising a demand,” she said. ”It could be either because the women in the committee themselves have limited power, or because there are so few women in leadership in the Telangana Film Industry (TFI). The number of women in departments like editing, cinematography, and directorship is low.”

However, in the wake of the release of the Hema Committee report, even the women of the Telangana film industry last week set up a support group calling itself ‘The Voice of Women,’ to put pressure on their state government to release its 2022 report.

Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, bordering Kerala, the Hema committee report motivated TV reality show contestant Sanam Shetty to declare that the casting couch also existed in the Tamil movie industry, and that she had experienced it.

‘A Movement for Change’

The downside of this activism is being felt in the Malayalam film industry. A vocal WCC voice and acclaimed actor, Parvathy Thiruvothu, once said that no one in the WCC was getting any offers and that they were the odd ones out.

In addition, paradoxically, the state government is still rewarding offenders. It is considering appointing filmmaker Shaji N. Karun to head the Kerala State Film Development Corporation in place of Ranjith. Karun is facing allegations of mentally torturing budding female directors.

The danger to women who raise their voice was felt by Tollywood actor Sri Reddy as well, when she faced a backlash after her revelation and had to leave both the industry and Telangana altogether.

“In Tollywood, the fight was by the lower-rung like junior and dialogue artists, who are extremely powerless,” Suneetha said. “But those who led the fight in Telangana had to leave the industry. Women’s organisations supported them. The committee was set up because of the court order in response to a PIL, not because the government was keen. The government might not be interested in releasing the report because it would mean taking action. It might also be under pressure from the TFI, which has to act and reform itself. In Kerala, the WCC members pushed the government to publish the report.”

Beena Paul, a noted film editor, WCC founder-member, and a former artistic director of Kerala’s globally renowned International Film Festival, told RT that what they want is change.

“The committee has pointed out a lot of things and now we are hearing a lot of things through the media, and we are quite astonished about what is happening,” she said. “We were not concentrating solely on sexual harassment. This is a movement for change, we believe change is required.There is an idea that there is something that we need to work on and we are working on it. It is not easy, it takes a lot of time and effort. The government has not let us down, some things have happened, and some things have not happened,” she said.

In Mumbai, according to Tewari, change has already begun. “A lot has changed after the MeToo movement in 2018,” he said. “The industry is no longer allowed to misbehave with women. Sexist remarks in a meeting, anything untoward to women, and remarks with double meaning are not tolerated. That is a positive change that I have seen in the last four years. Having said that, the pay-parity issue remains. Forming such a committee in Bollywood may not be a bad idea.”