India is caught up in a new #MeToo wave in the film industry. This time, it concerns the Kerala film industry, nicknamed Mollywood, which produces nearly 200 films a year in Malayalam. In 2018, its Bombay-based rival Bollywood had already been rocked by a first scandal.

On August 19, an explosive report revealing widespread sexual harassment and abuse was made public. It was produced by the Hema Commission, named after the judge chairing it and set up in 2017 following pressure from a group of actresses by the local Communist government in the wake of the kidnapping and sexual assault by several men of star actress Karthika Menon.

Unusually, the victim lodged a complaint and investigators discovered that actor and producer Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, a superstar with 130 film credits to his name, had instigated the kidnapping, a "punitive operation" akin to personal revenge. He was charged in 2017, arrested and released on bail after 85 days in prison. The case is still pending.

For two years, the Hema Commission conducted confidential interviews with actors and actresses, but also craftspeople, from costume designers to make-up artists. It submitted its findings to the Kerala government in December 2019, but the latter swept the thick 290-page document under the rug. It was only published on July 6, 2024, five years late, on the orders of the State Information Commission. An actor's appeal further delayed publication, but it was rejected by the Kerala High Court.

The report, redacted from some 60 pages to conceal the identity of witnesses and defendants, is edifying concerning the industry, described as being under the sway and control of a "mafia of powerful men," a group of some 15 people, and within which "sexual harassment of women is rampant."

Victims said they had suffered blackmail for jobs from actors, producers, directors, forcing actresses, especially debutantes, to accept "compromises" or "adjustments," in other words, sex in exchange for roles or career advancement. "Men in industry make open demands for sex without any qualms as if it’s their birthright," the authors wrote.

The commission noted dangerous working conditions on sets, including the lack of basic facilities such as toilets or changing rooms, forcing women to relieve themselves in isolated places or to refrain from drinking water as trailers were reserved for lead actresses. Location shoots are particularly prone to aggression. One actress recounted how an inebriated director would bang on her hotel room door so violently at night that she feared it would collapse. The only way for them to protect themselves is to be accompanied on set by a relative or close friend.

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