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By P.K.Balachandran/Sunday Observer
Colombo, September 1:Even as middle class India was seething with anger over the brutal rape and murder of a female doctor in a Kolkata hospital, news of the widespread prevalence of sexual exploitation in the Kerala film industry hit the headlines.
Neither the gruesome incident at the R.G.Kar government hospital in Kolkata on August 9, nor the existence of the casting couch culture in the Kerala film world were unusual in these days of crimes against women. But their exposure to the public eye in quick succession made India’s civil society sit up and seek drastic action against such deviance.
Traditional India has tended to associate cinema with lose morals. Until the 1940s, females from “decent” families were discouraged from entering the film industry. The men in charge in the field were known to sexually exploit women using the work place context in which there was physical proximity between male and female.
But the “casting couch” culture is a fairly new development, a spillover from Hollywood where it had been in vogue since the 1930s with the development of the studio and contract system. In the early years, sexual exploitation including the “casting couch” culture was kept under wraps. Producers, directors and other bigwigs were accused of demanding sex for roles, especially from starry eyed young aspirants, but these were seen as a professional hazard in a competitive field. Licentiousness was taken as par for the course. But it became a matter of public anxiety when it became an activity of an entire group of people, not just waywardness of particular individuals.
Malayalam Film Industry
Details of the happenings in the Kerala (Malayalam) film industry came out into the open when the Justice K.Hema Inquiry Committee looked into evidence of sexual harassment. The victims had provided audio and video clips and screenshots of WhatsApp messages as evidence.
The Hema Committee comprised (apart from the chairperson retired High Court Judge K. Hema), former actress Sharada, and retired government officer K.B. Valsala Kumari. It was formed at the request from the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) following the abduction and sexual assault of a prominent actress in February 2017, in which actor Dileep was an accused.
The committee’s report was made public on August 19. According to The Hindu women in the film industry told the committee about men knocking on their doors at night, sometimes even forcibly entering their rooms. Women were forced to act with their abusers. Such was the power of the violators that traumatized women were scared of telling even their families, leave alone complain to the police.
Committee member and actress Sarada, highlighted the lack of changing rooms and even toilet facilities for junior female artistes during outdoor shooting. Only big stars had caravans where they could rest or change, others had to make do with enclosures covered with cloth. Sarada also spoke of the widespread use of drugs on film sets.
The committee’s report brought out the fact that the Kerala film industry was under the thumb of a powerful group of male producers, directors, and actors, known collectively at the “mafia”. Those who protested or did not cooperate were denied roles by the collectivity of the powerful.
The committee recommended that the Kerala government create a tribunal to address issues faced by women in cinema. The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was ineffective as powerful individuals would threaten or coerce ICC members.
As a follow-up, the Kerala High Court directed the government to submit the report in a sealed cover and sought the government’s position on the action to be taken.
On August 27, the executive committee of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) was dissolved. All 17 members of the committee, including the President veteran actor Mohanlal resigned. Some of them were among the accused. For example actor Siddique, the General Secretary, was accused of sexual assault by actress Revathy Sampath.
The Ernakulam police filed a case against actor Ranjith for molesting an actress in his house in 2009. Ranjith is a functionary of a film body, the Chalachitra Association.
Casting Couch in Hollywood
As stated earlier, casting couch culture appeared in Hollywood first. It has been there since the 1930s. Film roles were more accessible to females if they were sexually pleasing to the producer. However, according to History Forum , the “casting couch” problem as such was raised only in a 1945 newspaper interview given by Maureen O´Hara.
Joe Schenck, co-founder of 20th Century Fox, was laying actresses he had contracted. Colombia’s Harry Cohn made actresses strip in his office. In 1940, an MGM producer tried to molest Shirley Temple, then only 12 years old.
Teenager Judy Garland was repeatedly subjected to sexual demands by Louis B. Mayer, who co-founded the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1924. Mayer was the “ground zero” of this kind of abuse, History Forum said. If women didn’t comply, he’d threaten to ruin their careers and also those of their collaborators.
According to Cari Beauchamp, author of “Without Lying Down: Francis Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood”: “Mayer chased actress Jean Howard around the room. When she said, ‘No way,’ and went off and married Charles K. Feldman, the agent, Mayer banned Charlie from the lot. For a long time after, he wouldn’t allow any of Feldman’s clients to work at MGM.”
Mayer also allegedly groped the teenaged Judy Garland, according to Gerald Clarke’s book “Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland.” He held meetings with the young woman seated on his lap, his hands on her chest.
History Forum revealed that in 1962, a 20th Century Fox producer wanted to give Joan Collins the role of Cleopatra in the mega movie Cleopatra if she slept with him. But when she refused, the role went to Elizabeth Taylor.
Marilyn Monroe had the habit of warning fellow actresses about the “ wolves in this town” as she put it. Monroe told Joan Collins: “There’s nothing like the power of the studio bosses here, honey. If they don’t get what they want, they’ll drop you. It’s happened to lots of gals.”
In Monroe’s memoir, “My Story,” she wrote: “Some (men) were vicious and crooked. But they were as near to the movies as you could get. So you sat with them, listening to their lies and schemes. And you saw Hollywood with their eyes — an overcrowded brothel, a merry-go-round with beds for horses.”
According to Beauchamp: “Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures and Jack Warner at Warner Bros. were Abusive with a capital ‘A.’ Mayer believed he’d built his studio brick by brick, that it was his town, and he was its king. So he deserved all the perks of the kingdom. That was the attitude of most studio heads.
Me Too Movement
Harvey Weinstein cofounder and cochairman of Miramax Films and later the Weinstein Company is the most recent among the infamous predators. His career ended following numerous allegations of sexual harassment and assault, several of which led to criminal charges and convictions in New York and California.
His rape conviction in New York was overturned in 2024, but a new trial was ordered. Reports of his misconduct gave rise to the “Me Too” movement.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, in early 2017, journalists began investigating numerous sexual harassment and abuse allegations against Weinstein that spanned decades. The New Yorker published the findings of Ronan Farrow, which coincided with a similarly damning investigation into Weinstein by Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey at The New York Times. Both news organizations were awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their reporting.
When the reports broke, Weinstein initially took leave of absence from the Weinstein Company, but within days he was fired. Shortly thereafter he was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Authorities in New York launched an investigation into Weinstein, and in May 2018 he was charged with several crimes, including rape, in connection to incidents involving two different women. Weinstein pleaded not guilty to those charges as well as to others that were subsequently filed.
His trial began in January 2020, and the following month he was found guilty of a criminal sexual act and rape. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison. However, his conviction was overturned on appeal in 2024. A New York court held that Weinstein had not received a fair trial. The court ordered a new trial.
Weinstein faced legal issues elsewhere. In California he was charged with raping and sexually assaulting four women in 2004–13. In 2022, he went on trial in Los Angeles, and a jury found him guilty of rape, forcible oral sex, and sexual penetration, all of which related to an incident with an Italian actress in 2013. But the jury acquitted Weinstein or was unable to reach a verdict.
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