Tollywood women urge Telangana govt to release panel report on sexual harassment in Telugu film industry

'We, the women of the Telugu film industry, welcome the Hema Committee report and applaud the persistent efforts of the WCC in Kerala, which has laid the path to this momentum,' the Voice of Women (VOW) statement read.

Hyderabad: Following the Hema Committee report that had created ripples in the Malayalam film industry, there is a growing demand in the Telugu film industry for the release of a subcommittee report on sexual harassment within Tollywood.

Several women film personalities from the Telugu Film Industry (TFI), including Samantha, Lakshmi Manchu, Anchor Suma, Jhansi, director Nandini Reddy, and others, took to social media platforms on Saturday to urge the Telangana government to publish the subcommittee's report on sexual harassment that will help in formulating policies.

They shared the statement of Voice of Women (VOW) on their respective social media platforms.

“We, the women of the Telugu film industry, welcome the Hema Committee report and applaud the persistent efforts of the WCC in Kerala, which has laid the path to this momentum,” the VOW statement read.

“We hereby urge the Telangana government to publish the submitted subcommittee report on sexual harassment, which can help frame government and industry policies to establish a safe working environment for women in the TFI,” further read the statement.

Credit: VOW

In 2019, the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) inspired the creation of The Voice of Women, a support group for women in the TFI.

In May 2019, actor Lakshmi Manchu, producers Supriya and Swapna, actor Jhansi, and director Nandini Reddy joined forces to launch an all-women support group for the welfare of women in the Telugu film industry.

While announcing the group, Lakshm Manchu said Voice of Women (VOW), with the support of 80 other women from different technical wings, aims to connect and support women across all crafts of the industry.

"We launched Voice of Women as an initiative to promote the welfare of women in the Telugu film industry. Five of us initiated the initiative, which has now grown to include 80 women. We are here to speak out against any injustices occurring to women in our industry, and we strive to find solutions to the problems they face. VOW holds a very special place in my heart," Lakshmi said in a statement on May 26, 2019.

The group aims to create gender awareness in the working spaces. The statement also said that bimonthly meetings are held to discuss issues, and a database of all women technicians in the Telugu film industry is in progress.

VOW was also instrumental in creating a panel at the Film Chamber of Commerce to address workplace sexual harassment.

This panel at the Film Chamber has 25 members, 50 percent of whom are non-film industry members. The ex-official members of various craft associations are also members on the panel.

After a semi-nude protest by actress and anchor Sri Reddy at the Film Chamber office in Film Nagar, Hyderabad, in 2018, where she brought up the rampant sexual harassment in the Telugu film industry, the Telangana government had to take action since her protest had triggered a huge public debate and clamour.

A high-level committee was constituted by the state government, composed of police commissioners, SHE teams, film producers, and directors in 2019.

This committee was established through a GO Rt No. 984.

In the same year, a subcommittee was formed to provide recommendations that would assist the government in developing guidelines to address the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace.

The subcommittee has held numerous meetings with stakeholders from the Telugu film and television industry to develop a legal framework that tackles the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace.

The study was delayed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown which made it impossible to conduct interviews. Nevertheless, interviews were eventually conducted online. In 2021, the report titled 'Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination in the Telugu Film and Television Industries' was submitted to the government. However, the report never saw the light of day.