How safe is the Kannada film industry for women?

Cast and crew describe how they face advances, innuendos, and discrimination, and call for steps to ensure their safety

The sky is full of mysteries; with the twinkling stars and the beautiful moon. But, scientific investigation revealed that stars do not twinkle nor does the moon look beautiful. The study therefore, cautions: ‘Do not trust what you see, even salt looks like sugar’! — Hema Committee report

The Hema committee report, a landmark in the history of Indian cinema, has created a stir in the Malayalam film industry, with prominent actors and directors being named as sexual predators. 

But how different are the other film industries in this regard? The case for a forum to protect women is strong, a host of well-known film personalities say.

During the #metoo movement, Kannada actor Sruthi Hariharan named the multilingual star Arjun Sarja for sexual misconduct. “I received a lot of flak. I lost a lot of work. My family suffered. I went through a phase when I was probably depressed and did not understand what was going on in my life,” she says.

At the same time, actor Sangeetha Bhat wrote a long Facebook post describing what she had been through. These included 12 such incidents, including a casting director masturbating next to her in the car and calling it “normal”. She and her mother had to hide on the terrace when the director and assistant director came drunk to her house to “celebrate” the success of a film. She eventually took therapy. 

“All of us who came out during the #metoo movement were labelled problematic and sidelined. No work came our way. This is the shadow ban the Hema committee report talks about,” says Sangeetha, who has acted in films such as ‘Eradane Sala’ and 'Dayavittu Gamanisi'.

Members of the WCC (Women in Cinema Collective) are banned by ‘power groups’ because they speak out against atrocities in cinema, according to the report.

Sarja and singer Raghu Dixit, named in the #metoo movement, emerged unscathed. While the case against the former was closed, the latter apologised.

“The intent of #metoo is to make the industry a safer space. The mentality among men, ‘What can she do? She is after all a woman. All she is fit for is to be in my bed,’ has to change,” says Sruthi, who believes if not immediately, at least in the long run, the film industry will become safe for women.

Panel for Kannada? 

Several prominent women working in the Kannada industry — Sruthi, Sangeetha, Samyukta Hornad, Pooja Gandhi, Apoorva Bharadwaj, Chaithra J Achar and Preethi Sagar asserted the need for a committee, on the lines of the Hema committee, for Kannada. 

“If the government appoints such a committee, the issues will be the same but the names will be different,” says Sruthi. 

Actor Samyukta recalls the FIRE committee (Film Industry for Rights and Equality) formed in Bengaluru in 2017, about a year before the #metoo movement hit the headlines. It featured prominent names, including Samyukta, director Kavitha Lankesh and actor Chetan Ahimsa. The committee was formed to look at problems faced by junior artistes, hair stylists and actors. “But it soon fizzled out, because of Covid 19, and more importantly, because the stars didn’t back us,” Samyukta says. 

Patriarchy problems

“We all do go through some sort of harassment, not necessarily sexual. Most women do not voice it because they’re scared they may lose work. Bullies know who to bully. The basic problem also lies in our film narratives which celebrate the male gaze,” says Samyukta. She says transgenders and crossdressers in the industry also need a lot of support.  

Durga (name changed), a prominent actor in the Kannada industry, says she was harassed by the director of her second film. “It initially began with ‘I love you, we have a future together’. When I turned him down, he said ‘You have signed an agreement. I know what to do.’ He tried messing with the dates of another film I had signed. He called me every day late at night, drunk. This went on for about three months. My mother noticed and suspected I was in trouble. You cannot talk to your parents about this because they will tell you not to venture out. I didn’t want to put myself in that position because I am passionate about my acting career. He even collected my personal information and behaved like a rogue,” she says. 

Durga sought help from a co-actor who gave her the strength to confront him. She recalls: “When I did, he had the audacity to say, ‘If you try to ruin my name, I will tell everyone that you slept with me and everyone will believe me because I am a man.’” The director even threatened to complain to the film chamber if she decided against doing the film. 

Preethi, actor and assistant director, says it all begins during the auditions. “Unless it’s by a well-known production house, auditions are conducted by casting agents who ‘supply’ junior artistes to films. They even take place in people’s houses where they make you do all kinds of things,” she says. 

She was once asked to dance at an audition. “They sometimes say you should do a ‘reading’ with the male lead who is sometimes a 50-year-old,” Preethi adds. 

Even something as basic as a washroom becomes a problem, she says. Once when she worked on an indie feature, the producer refused to understand why a caravan was necessary on the location. The shooting was taking place in the middle of the fields in a village.

Patriarchal attitudes pan out in subtle ways, she says. “There is a camera team that manages the equipment on the sets. They have a belief, and I have seen it across productions, that women should not sit on the ‘apple box’ that comes along with the equipment,” she says. 

An apple box is a wooden box used to place equipment on, and is often used by the DOP (cinematographer) and the director to sit on. When Preethi once sat on it, she got reprimanded. “Later I found out that a girl could be menstruating and they believe it would stain the apple box and take away its purity,” she adds. What if a woman is the DOP, she muses.

When she worked with female cinematographer Preetha Jayaraman, there were lots of women on the sets and they did not face such restrictions. “If more women work on the sets, such superstitions will come down,” she adds.

Apoorva Bharadwaj, known for films like ‘Naanu Adu Mattu Saroja’, has come across actors and technicians who feel superior just because they are men. The female lead is not kept updated about the film at the post-production stage, whereas the male lead is always in the loop, she says. 

“A senior, well-known financier who was also playing a role in the film made small talk asking, ‘Where do you stay when you go to Goa? Have you stayed at the Taj? The Sheraton? Do you want to come this time? I can take you there.’ You meet someone and the next minute he is asking you this. I am lucky I haven’t met too many like that but such people exist,” says Apoorva, who says female actors are underpaid even when they put in the same amount of work as the men.

Chaithra, who has made a mark with films like ‘Sapta Sagaradaache Ello’ and ‘Toby’, says, “Once a junior artiste shared with me how at an audition she was asked to go on a trip with the cinematographer, the director and the producer if she wanted to be the heroine of their next film. It is a very sad space for women.” 

Apoorva was once asked by a female junior artiste how many men she had to ‘appease’ to get there. “I was shocked. It is sad that many women think that is the process,” she adds. 

Women’s union

“There is no forum in the Kannada film industry where women can express their concerns. The presence of a forum will instil some kind of fear among predators,” says Pooja, who has delivered hits such as ‘Mungaru Male’ and ‘Dandupalya’.

“I haven’t even witnessed women forming groups to discuss such things. It is time for every industry to set up a forum women can go to. With the WCC, women in Kerala have been working towards discussing these problems,” says Sangeetha. 

Preethi agrees:  “We should at least have an informal group where someone can come and say, ‘Hey, this is my experience with this person’. When another woman has to work with that person, she is already aware of what she is getting into. We need a forum where women can depend on women,” she says.