Hema Committee was an advisory committee formed by the

Government of Kerala The Government of Kerala (abbreviated as GoK), also known as the Kerala Government, is the administrative body responsible for governing the Indian States and territories of India, state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who ...

in July 2017, to investigate the issues related to

sexual violence Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted Human sexual activity, sexual act, an attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion, or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of ...

and gender inequality, in the Malayalam cinema industry and to submit solutions to them. It was a three-member committee chaired by former

Kerala High Court The High Court of Kerala is the List of high courts in India, highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the Hig ...

judge Justice Hema. Film actress Sharada and former IAS officer KB Vatsalakumari, were other members of the committee. The committee was formed when the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), an organization formed after the incident of a young actress; who was assaulted in the year 2017 in Kochi, complained to Chief Minister

Pinarayi Vijayan Pinarayi Vijayan (; born 24 May 1945) is an Indian politician who has served as the List of chief ministers of Kerala, Chief Minister of Kerala since 25 May 2016. A member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), politburo ...

. The committee, which started functioning on 16 November 2017, consulted multiple women professionals in the Malayalam film industry and recorded detailed statistics on

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

, earned wages and blacklisting from work. A 300-page report, which came to be known as the Hema Committee Report was submitted to Pinarayi Vijayan in December 2019, along with the documents, audio and video evidence supporting the findings.

History

The committee was headed by the former Judge of Kerala High Court, Retired Justice K. Hema, to investigate the concerns of

and

gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is in ...

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both th ...

. The report was submitted to the government on 31 December, 20 not released to the public. No action was taken by the Kerala government (

First Vijayan Ministry First Pinarayi Vijayan ministry is the Council of Ministers headed by Pinarayi Vijayan that was formed after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) won the 2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly elections. The Council assumed office on 25 May 2016. The mini ...

& Second n Ministry) from December 2019 to July 2024. On 6 July, the Kerala State Information Commission passed an order directing the Kerala government to issue the committee report to RTI applicants before 22 July, after redacting information that could identify individuals mentioned in the report, as prohibited under the Right to Information Act. On 19 August 2024, the report was made available to the RTI applicants after the Kerala High Court, on Tuesday, 13 August, upheld the order of the State Information Commission and allowed for the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, determining that there was no breach of privacy. The Kerala government released only 233 pages of the report, excluding sections that could infringe on the privacy of the individuals mentioned. The omitted portions include paragraphs 97 to 107 from pages 49 to 53, as well as sections from pages 81 to 100 and pages 165 to 196. According to Manorama News, the 11 paragraphs from pages 49 to 53 were not part of the exclusions submitted by the State Information Commission. The report reveals the existence of an all-male power group of 15 top people in the industry, including directors, producers and actors in the Malayalam industry. According to the report, the power group determined who should stay in the industry and who would be cast in films.

Reactions

Following the Hema Committee Report, numerous actresses and other female workers in the Malayalam film industry came forward to share their harrowing experiences with various industry figures: # Sreelekha Mitra revealed a disturbing encounter with Malayalam film director Ranjith Balakrishnan. In response to these allegations, Ranjith resigned from his position as Chairman of the

Kerala State Chalachitra Academy Kerala State Motion Picture Academy is an autonomous non-profit institution based in Trivandrum, working under the Department of Cultural Affairs (Kerala), Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. History It was founded in Augus ...

. The alleged incident occurred during the production of the 2009 film '' Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha''. # An actress disclosed inappropriate behaviour from Malayalam film actors Siddique and

Riyaz Khan Riyaz Khan is an Indian actor and bodybuilder. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Tamil cinema, Tamil films and television series, besides acting in a few Telugu language, Telugu and Kannada cinema, Kannada films, as well ...

. Subsequently, Siddique stepped down as General Secretary of the

Association of Malayalam Movie Artists The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, abbreviated as AMMA, is an Indian organization of film actors and actresses working in the Malayalam cinema, formed in 1994. Governing body The governing body serves for three years. It includes a Pre ...

(AMMA). #

Geetha Vijayan Geetha Vijayan is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam movies, a few Tamil and Hindi movies. She debuted in the 1990 Malayalam comedy- thriller film ''In Harihar Nagar''. She has since acted in more than 150 Malayalam movies and in some ...

shared her negative experiences with Malayalam film director

Thulasidas Thulasidas is an Indian film and serial Film director, director who works in the South Indian film industry, predominantly in Malayalam cinema. Filmography Television *''Sree mahabhagavatham'' (Asianet) *''Swamy Ayyappan saranam'' (Asianet ...

and producer Aroma Mohan during the filming of ''Chanchattam'' in 1991. # Sridevika also recounted a distressing encounter with Malayalam film director

while working on the film '' Avan Chandiyude Makan'' in 2007. # An anonymous young scriptwriter came forward with allegations against Malayalam film director V. K. Prakash. # An actress alleged that Malayalam film actors

Jayasurya Jayasurya (born 31 August 1978) is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist who works in Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a National Film Awards, National Fi ...

Maniyanpilla Raju Sudheer Kumar (born 20 April 1955), better known by his stage name Maniyanpilla Raju (Malayalam: മണിയൻപിള്ള രാജു), is an Indian actor and producer who works in Malayalam film industry.Edavela Babu exhibited inappropriate behaviour towards her during the production of a film in Kochi in 2014. Additionally, she claimed that actor

Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It is commonly used as a male given name in India. People with the name Mukesh include: * Mukesh (singer) (1923–1976), Indian playback singer from ...

demanded sexual favours in exchange for a membership in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). # A junior artist shared a negative experience with Malayalam film actor-producer Baburaj Jacob. # A junior artist, recounted a negative interaction her friend's mother had with the Malayalam actor

. # A man from Kozhikode has filed a sexual abuse complaint against film director Ranjith Balakrishnan. According to him, Ranjith had also claimed to the victim about the involvement of a lady whom Ranjith had referred to as Revathy. # A casting couch sexual assault case filed against actor

Nivin Pauly Nivin Pauly (born 11 October 1984) is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is the recipient of two Kerala State Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, two Kerala Film Critics Association Awards, and ...

. He has denied the whole allegations, calls it "entirely untrue" and he has assured full cooperation with any investigation. Later Nivin petitioned Police Chief and SIT demanding probe into "fake complaints". Later Nivin got clean chit from court that he was innocent. # An actress filed a sexual harassment case against actor

Alencier Ley Lopez Alencier Ley Lopez is an Indian film and theatre actor, who appears in Malayalam films. Lopez made his debut in the 1998 film '' Daya''; and he worked in films like '' Annayum Rasoolum'' (2013), '' Njan Steve Lopez'' (2013), and '' Maheshinte P ...

. On 27 August 2024, following the release of the Hema Committee report, which detailed allegations from female artists and workers from the

Malayalam Cinema Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both th ...

, the

(AMMA) dissolved its entire executive committee for the period 2024–2027.

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

, who had by then secured his second term as president of that organisation, was the head of the executive committee which had to step down.

Aftermath

The

has set up a

Special Investigation Team are Police tactical unit, tactical detective units of Japanese prefectural police forces. Special Investigation Teams are maintained by prefectural police headquarters (PPH) and are trained to handle critical incidents including criminal investi ...

(SIT) to probe sexual harassment allegations in the Malayalam film industry. The SIT, led by IG G. Sparjan Kumar and consisting of four senior women IPS officers, will have ADGP H. Venkitesh overseeing its operations. The team comprises S. Ajeetha Begum, DIG; Merin Joseph, SP, Crime Branch; G. Poonkuzhali, AIG, Coastal Police; Aiswarya Dongre, Assistant Director, Kerala Police Academy; V. Ajith, AIG, Law and Order; and S. Madhusoodanan, SP, Crime Branch. Following Kerala's Hema committee, similar proposal for setting up a committee in West Bengal's Bengali cinema has been proposed to the Chief Minister.

External links

References

{{reflist 2017 establishments in India Government agencies of India Indian film industries