The Malayalam film industry, known as Mollywood, is facing a significant wave of the #MeToo movement. An explosive report from the Hema Commission has detailed widespread sexual harassment and abuse, leading to multiple complaints against prominent figures and the dissolution of the Association of Malayalam Cinema Artists. India is caught up in a new #MeToo wavein 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 with130 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.
‘Mafia of powerful men’
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.
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