HYDERABAD: The first high-level committee meeting to look into sexual harassment in the Telugu movie industry witnessed the representatives from the latter trying to be defensive about their workplace while those outside their circle wanting to further dissect and investigate into the matter.
The government mandated high-level committee started off on a rather inconclusive note on Friday -- at its first meeting held in the Telangana Film Development Corporation at Masab Tank, where about 20 to 21 members of the 25 appointed by the GO turned up.
Among them were police commissioner from Hyderabad and Rachakonda, representatives from the Labour, Women and Child departments, SHE Teams, MAA secretary and others. Express spoke to several members who attended the meeting and most of them described it as ‘vague’. Some of the crucial points that were raised in the meeting included the need for a detailed report on the structure of the film industry. The chairperson of the committee, however, agreed to the terms in principle, said sources.
“We asked the members of the film industry to come out with a comprehensive document on the structure, unions, committees, agencies within the industry. Only then can we design a proper redressal mechanism,” said a member who attended the meeting. Regardless, people within the industry seemed rather elusive to the idea with its members only agreeing to it partially.
“There were suggestions that a third party, possibly an academic institution or the Women and Child Department, must take up an extensive academic research on the spread of the industry,” said the member.
Another critical argument raised was the need to have a public hearing to gather the testimonies of stakeholders and victims and not make official decisions based on limited perspectives.
“It is a big committee. As a result, there were several voices raised through the course of the meeting. However the main point that we stressed on was the need to have a public hearing where the testimonies of all the stakeholders and victims can be recorded,” said Vasanthi N, Professor at the NALSAR.
Though the meeting managed to raise these points, the terms of reference of the committee, its time line to come out with a report, and its objectives and duties remained undecided. The FDC chairman P Ram Mohan Rao, while speaking to Express, said that the committee would only be functioning for three to four months with one sitting per month, before formulating the set of rules and regulations for the industry. “We need to strictly spread awareness about the legal provisions available for women,” said Ram Mohan.
Jeevitha attends TSFDC meeting
Raking up a controversy, the High-Level Committee meeting that was held at the TSFDC office was attended by Tollywood Movie Artists Association (MAA) general secretary Jeevitha, along with the nominated member Dr Gopala Krishna Paruchuri. The move has already generated criticisms, especially from the women activists and PIL petitioners. They are raising questions on why a member not mentioned in the original GO attended the meeting when MAA had already sent a representative.