"Stand Up, Be A Man": Shobhaa De Asks Mohanlal To Act On Kerala #MeToo

Author and columnist Shobhaa De has strongly criticised the "silence" in Bollywood and the disappearing act of Malayalam cinema director Mohanlal after a massive #MeToo movement hit Kerala's film industry.

Over a dozen Malayalam cinema actors, directors and producers face rape and sex harassment charges after the Justice K Hema Committee report, which looked into issues faced by women in Kerala's film industry, made it to the public.

Shobhaa De singled out Mohanlal for his 'cowardice' in resigning as chief of the Association of Malayalam Movie Actors (AMMA), instead of staying where he is and ensuring the survivors get justice. All members of the film body's executive committee had also quit. "Stand up, be a man, tell your other team members to take responsibility and help those who are at the receiving end," she said.

"The tragedy in this particular case is that for nearly five years the Justice Hemareport had been lying there, nothing had been done. There was a breakaway group started by some women in the Malayalam film industry who were completely disheartened by the pathetic working conditions, and it was a cosy men's club controlled by 15-20 men, who had absolutely power over their working and personal life," Shobhaa De told NDTV.

"In 2017 there was an abduction and rape case. What we are seeing today is a very strong and overdue reaction to the general rot in the Malayalam film industry. But it's not unique to Malayalam cinema. It's widespread. It's happening in Bollywood, in Bengal, I'm sure in the film industry in Karnataka as well," she said.

A special investigation team (SIT) will look into rape allegations against Malayalam actor Siddique

Shobhaa De pointed at the "patriarchal system" that has taken hold of the film industry as a huge factor behind the #MeToo cases.

"The way this industry works is it's a patriarchal system in its nastiest, most toxic form. Women seem to be completely voiceless and powerless. So things must be changed. I'm extremely, in a way, disheartened, shocked that the all-powerful executive committee could do headed by Mohanlal was to resign en masse. How does it help?

"Good leadership is about saying they are going to stay right where they are and ensure some kind of action against the perpetrators of violence against women, sexual favours being exchanged, even something as basic as toilets (on the sets) being denied to women in the film industry. This is not only inhuman, but callous, it's cold-blooded, it's well-calculated. It's not as if people were not aware of this pathetic condition. No one spoke up. Worse, no one did anything about it.

"I'm equally shocked that not a single strong, male voice has emerged out of Bollywood. Not a single male actor of any worth has spoken against what they are seeing in the industry. They are all colleagues. You stand by your colleagues when they need you and speak up when needed to speak up, whether men or women," Shobhaa De told NDTV.

She said it seems to be a complicit agreement, that men across the board in the industry "not to damn each other and not to draw too much focus into what has been going on."

Actor Mohanlal resigned as president of Association of Malayalam Movie Actors, or AMMA

"I don't accept there's apathy. This is a tipping point. This kind of conversation we didn't hear for the last five years. This thing (report) that has been tabled is not something new... Bollywood hasn't spared its women, and yet how many women do you hear speaking up? How many women are you hearing from the Bengal film industry?

"Where are the big stars from Bollywood? They didn't even as much as say 'we stand by the victims, we stand in solidarity with the victims of these atrocities which have been going on unchecked, unabated because of the men in the industry who call all the shots.

"Till that equation changes, I don't see anything much changing because the money is controlled by the men, they decide who is in, who is out, who gets the job, who gets a role, which technician is cooperative, which women is willing to go to bed with a director, producer, a cameraperson.

"If not, if she is seen as a troublemaker, if she's seen as a woman who stands up for her self-respect, she is out. Which means we are rendering a group of women who may be completely qualified to do the job, but would be discriminated against because they are not willing to trade their bodies for a job. You are impacting the work environment in a way that you're leaving out women from earning their livelihood," the top author and columnist told NDTV.

"This is unforgivable, unless action is taken. Action should be taken at a tribunal level. The perpetrators must be punished. It is time for action. This should not be some noise only to disappear," she said.