Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday welcomed the exposure of widespread sexual assault of women and men in Mollywood, as well as the resulting police cases and resignations. However, he stressed that the real battle for gender equality lies in correcting the "degradation" of Indian society.
"I think there are many things coming out of the closet of our society... beginning with assaults against women. This has been happening forever, but it's now being discussed openly since the Nirbhaya tragedy of 2012 and the recent RG Kar Hospital rape and murder of 2024," Tharoor said in an interview with NDTV.
Tharoor, the MP for Thiruvananthapuram, called for changes to the "overall attitude in Indian society", saying: "(There must be) something wrong with Indian men if we can't address this problem... I hope something like that can be implemented... because we can't go on having tragedy after tragedy. There is shock and horror and outrage, but then it all subsides and we move on to the next tragedy. That doesn't work. We need systematic change."
The comments come amid the release of the Hema committee report on sexual harassment and other issues in the Malayalam film industry, which has sparked a storm, shaking the public sphere in Kerala.
Tharoor added: "I'm proud that Kerala is the first place in India to expose what everyone says is happening in every other film industry. At least Kerala has stood up and said, 'this is not right'."
More women are now revealing names of their harassers, and some are disclosing harrowing experiences without revealing names. The flurry of complaints have led to senior Mollywood figures resigning from state government panels or bodies associated with the film industry, and several members of a powerful actors' body, called Association of Malayalam Movie Actors, quitting citing "moral responsibility".
Two big names in the industry have had to quit their positions following allegations of sexual harassment. Director Ranjith has resigned as Chairman of the Chalachitra Academy and actor Siddique has quit from the position of general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), the organisation that is perceived to be the power centre in the industry.
