The Justice Hema Committee report has created a stir in the Malayalam film industry. This report talks about discrimination and exploitation of women in the industry. Ever since this report has come out, it is being discussed continuously. Now South actress Parvati has talked about this. In her latest interview, the actress said, ‘I don’t think it is right that people say that the Malayalam industry is so rotten from within. No, we are good from within, so we are trying to fix things. You should worry about the places about which you don’t get to hear anything.’
Parvati spoke on Justice Hema Committee report
In a conversation with NDTV, Parvati further said, ‘The thought of success is bittersweet for us. Because the first statement came in 2018 and the report was submitted in 2019. It has taken many years for this report to come out. We have got a revised version of it. In these past years, we have really had to beg, scream and fight. Our allies were from the public and the media, who had to join this fight and ask, ‘Are you hiding all this from us? Why is this report not coming out?’
Talking about this in depth, Parvati said that there are many people who are not reading this report for its real purpose. Rather, they are busy sensationalizing it. The actress said, ‘The (Justice) Hema Committee report is a study of the evil practices happening in the film industry. This report has been released so that the workplace culture in the industry can be improved and work is done according to the government. No one should go against the law. I think now people are paying more attention to sensationalizing it. So it is still difficult for us to bring people’s focus on the real thing.’
Every effort was made to bring out the report
Parvati said that bringing out the report of all the incidents that happened with women in the industry was not an easy task. She said, ‘All these statements were written by hand and they were read out to us. It was painful and horrifying. But we used to do this for 6 to 7 hours a day, we did this for several days a week. We did it with the belief that it will benefit us and the women who come after us. But when we were told that this report will probably never come out, then we felt that we have been cheated. It took our soul out. Actually I had given up all hopes that this report will come out.’
The actress told that when this report came out, she became emotional and started crying. She said about this, ‘It was not because of happiness. But now that it is an official document, it gives it seriousness and because of this we are feeling quite assured. But I would say that this is just the beginning.’
Parvati further talked about the report and said, ‘This is the first time in any film industry that a committee formed by the government has released a report after studying it. I am more worried about why there is no internal complaint committee for the shooting of all the films? Indian cinema is very big, we have many film industries. I feel that we are still stopping things. Covering things up. After this start of cleaning, other industries will also get inspiration to do the same.’