It has been an agonising August for Indian women. A medical student has been brutally silenced in Kolkata leading to an outcry, beti padhi par bachi nahin (the daughter studied but could not survive). A champion wrestler has been casually fat-shamed by a woman MP from the film industry for missing her weight category by 100 grams.
Mercifully, on the screen, the month has been rewarding for women who stood up against injustice. That women are renegotiating their terms of engagement with society came to the fore when Aattam (The Play) made it to the podium at the National Awards . The gripping Malayalam drama by debutant Anand Ekarshi showcases how even the seemingly safest and friendliest of spaces can turn hostile for women if they speak about the violation of their bodies.
Set in an ostensibly progressive space of theatre and cinema, the film takes the mask off men who practise gender sensitivity according to their interests. The announcement came just days before the Kerala government finally released the Justice Hema Committee report, four-and-a-half-years after it was submitted. Exposing the darkness beneath the glitter in the Malayalam film industry, the report reveals rampant harassment and discrimination faced by women in Mollywood at the hands of a powerful lobby of male producers, directors, and actors.
Though the Kerala government has taken an inordinately long time to make the report public, one must appreciate that this is the first time a government in India form.