The Justice Hema Committee Report has created ripples within the entertainment industry. Now, Parvathy Thiruvothu, in an interview with NDTV, discussed various aspects of the report, saying she is not okay with the findings of the report. 

Parvathy reacts

Talking about the report, she said, “The sense of achievement is extremely bitter-sweet for us, mainly because the first deposition happened sometime in 2018 and the report was submitted sometime in 2019. It took so many years for it to come out. The redacted version of it. In these years, we have had to really beg and grovel and fight. Allies were from the public and from media, who had to join this fight and say ‘Wait, why are you keeping it from us? Why is it not coming out?'”

“There was also a certain sensationalising on it. Whereas, [Justice] Hema Commission report is a study of malpractices in the film industry, which will help us (about) why was it formed and why was the report generated so that work towards forming better workplace culture, workplace practices that is government defined so that nobody would go against the law. Now, I think, sometimes is lost on people, when they think on the [Justice] Hema Commission. They are more focused on the sensationalising aspects of it. So, it is currently still a struggle for us to throw the focus back on to the picture and say, ‘No no no, let us put our mind and hearts to what the matter is at hand’,” added the actor, who recently won Best Actress for her film Ullozhukku at the International Film Festival of Melbourne.

Calling it a beginning, Parvathy feels now it is time to speak up about many things. And she is aware that it is not a happy thing to read, but documenting the findings in the report brings more seriousness to it.

Here, she notes that it is not an “expose” on the Malayalam film industry, and asserts that the industry is good from inside, noting, "the places where you don't hear anything about, that's where we should be worried about”.

About the Hema Committee report

The Hema Committee report, focused on the Malayalam film industry, has stirred conversations around the workplace ethics in the entertainment world. The report was commissioned to investigate and address the rampant issues of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry, and was released on Monday.

The much-awaited report puts the spotlight on the issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry and comes with shocking accounts of harassment, exploitation, and ill-treatment being faced by women.

The report stated that female actors faced harassment, including instances where the doors of their rooms were knocked on by intoxicated individuals in the film industry. In fact, many of the women expressed reluctance to complain due to fear. It also reported a lack of basic amenities such as toilets for women, adding that junior artists are treated ‘worse than slaves in Malayalam cinema’.

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