HYDERABAD: The high-level committee that looks into sexual harassment in the Telugu film industry held its second meeting on Friday at the Telugu Film Development Corporation office in Masab Tank. In the meeting, concrete decisions were taken with a view to understand and reform the film industry and its allied industries.
The committee, with over 25 appointed members, has now decided to form a specialised sub-committee to hold detailed research on the structure of the industry. This sub-committee, after holding a detailed structural analysis of the industry and defining its scope, will then analyse as to whether the existing laws will be able to monitor the industry and what new mechanism or laws need to be brought in place.
“The film industry is too vast – constituting acting schools, artists associations, film sets, audition spaces, etc. The first attempt will be to understand what all can be brought into the meaning of a ‘film industry’. This is crucial as there is no kind of legal check or involvement of the government, until a film goes for certification at the CBFC,” noted Professor N Vasanthi of NALSAR. She will be one of the members of the sub-committee, along with members from the Department of Women Development and Child welfare, Labour Department, Police Department and SHE teams. They will be giving insights from their end for the research.
Several students from the top law university might also be roped in as members. Meanwhile, the film fraternity and officials present in the committee also came up with suggestions like developing a common website or an app, wherein any new entrant to the industry across talent groups like actors, singers, junior artists, etc., can log in and join, and approach them. “Another suggestion floated was to make the rates of entering these unions cheaper for women,” said Ram Mohan, FDC chairman.