Actor Parvathy Thiruvothu Kottuvata was aghast when a director insisted she come alone for a script discussion.
“I was just 19 years old then and he was as old as my father,” says Parvathy, who recently won the best actor (female) award at the International Film Festival of India for her role in Take Off. “I remember hanging up and calling a male friend. Again, I couldn't speak to my girlfriends about it. He was a renowned director and it meant losing out on a big project. But I was clear I would never compromise on my dignity for a role.”
Newcomers are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment, says the 29-year-old actor, who recently made her Bollywood debut with Qarib Qarib Singlle. “Most casting agents, barring a few, take you around and see how 'cooperative' you are. It all comes from this idea that you are desperate. Unfortunately, a lot of people get exploited,” she says. “Casting couch is a reality in the entertainment industry. It happens not just in the Malayalam film industry. This is a sort of harassment that can happen anywhere and both men and women are vulnerable. I remember watching a TV show, wherein an actor recounted his early days in Bollywood. He spoke about this man who came on to him before the casting was done. He laughed while talking about it. But it is something we must address seriously.”
All is not well on the sets, too. “If you don't comply with their 'requests', they will find ways to make you pay dearly for it. They may become uncooperative on the sets. They treat you badly and differently and yell at you even for small things,” she says. “The worst part is that people are conditioned to bear all these passively. A lot of them do not even put up a fight.”
Sometimes, the requests for sexual favours sound so innocuous that one may not even realise that they are potentially dangerous. “These requests could come directly from a production person, a writer or director or even other members of the cast. Most of the time it is not a direct invite. They say, 'Let's go for a drive. There is nothing wrong in it.' That is how they test the waters,” says Parvathy.
During the initial years, Parvathy faced unwanted advances and subtle forms of harassment on sets several times. “It ranged from comments on my body parts to jokes with sexual overtones,” she says. “What upset me the most was that even women on the set laughed when this happened. They didn't know what else to do. Nobody said, 'Hey, That's not funny.' Such subtle forms of harassment are being normalised at our workplaces and nobody questions it.” However, over the years, she has learnt to put her foot down. “Of late, these elements have stopped coming towards me,” she says with a sigh. “But, it doesn't mean such situations have changed.”
The #MeToo campaign, for her, is about breaking the culture of silence around sexual abuse. “It is not about bringing someone down. It is just about finding peace and closure,” says Parvathy. She says the campaign was the need of the hour. “We are living in a society where a survivor's well-being is not taken care of. We don't believe in counselling or a support system. We don't have support groups for survivors. Basically, the survivors are not allowed to talk about what they went through.” The #MeToo campaign has made it possible for millions of people to speak out on sexual harassment. “Now we can help make life better for others who face the same,” she says.
Parvathy has been part of the Women in Cinema Collective, an organisation for the welfare of women in the entertainment industry. When a south Indian actor was recently kidnapped and raped, allegedly instigated by another actor, Parvathy and her colleagues were clueless as to how to deal with it. “We don't even have an internal complaints committee and we realised how ill-equipped we really are,” she recalls. The Women in Cinema Collective aims at raising awareness on sexual harassment and combating it. “It seeks to create a platform for an open dialogue between men, women and transgenders. To undo the damage done over so many decades, we need to learn to be more considerate to others and treat them with respect. It could take time but it will happen,” she says, with a glint in her eyes.
