Parvathy Thiruvothu speaks about the Hema Committee report and why ICC is quintessential

Parvathy Thiruvothu has always been vocal about her views on both social issues and happenings in cinema. The actress has recently spoken about her views on the long-delayed Hema Committee report, why an Internal Complaint Committee is quintessential for every movie set, and much more, during a recent event.

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When asked about her thoughts on the long delay in bringing the findings of the Hema Committee report, Parvathy asked “Don’t you see the pattern?” The actress said, “Dont you see the pattern? Committee after committee, you wait for three years, they will give you another committee, after 5 years goes by, they might appoint another committee to study what its formers findings were (sic).” Parvathy Thiruvothu further added that by the time of the election, the findings of the Hema Committee might come out, as the government would suddenly become “women-friendly.” “Let's wait for the election time, suddenly the reports are going to come out. That's my prediction. Because suddenly it's going to be a very women-friendly government,” she said.

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When a journalist asked Parvathy Thiruvothu, what would be the reason she thinks, is behind keeping the findings under wraps, she said that if the findings of the committee come out it will shatter the idols we have admired. “If that report comes out, many of the idols we admire will shatter. But apparently, our lives are more dispensible than we thought. Their egos and their power positions are more important,” Parvathy said.

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This March, in a landmark judgment the Kerala High Court said that the film production houses and film bodies have the responsibility to form an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. And the court gave an order on public interest litigation filed by Women in Cinema Collective (WCC). Parvathy Thiruvothu, who is also a member of WCC, welcomed the landmark judgment, however, she expressed her blues on the fact that it took two years coming.

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When she was asked why neither the government nor the entertainment industry took an initiative to form an ICC prior to the judgment, Parvathy cited an example of how the movie industry in Maharashtra embraced the Internal Complaints Committee years ago. The actress spoke about how the Hindi movie industry made the ICC mandatory for production houses after the #MeToo movement in 2018. “The producers, in collaboration with the Vanitha Commission, decided that within 30 days every production company should have an ICC, or else they will lose their registration,” Parvathy said, adding that since what’s at stake was large, everything fell into place. And also revealed that they had asked a similar thing here (M-Town), however, nothing happened. She also added that forming an ICC only took 3 months for Maharashtra took two and a half years down in Kerala.

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Parvathy said that the importance of an ICC is not a piece of information that is usually spread across the industry. And she further added that when she asked her peers if they had read if the POSH Act is in place, prior to signing the agreement, many are reluctant to ask, as “it is almost like asking if you have sexual harassers in your team. No, its says we will avoid it, it is a good thing. Avoiding and preventing it is the first thing, not the prohibition of it or the punishment.” Parvathy stressed that having an ICC in place will at least refrain the people who think they are entitled to do, from actually doing it.

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