MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Quote, "the sky is full of mysteries, with the twinkling stars and the beautiful moon. But scientific investigation revealed that stars do not twinkle, nor does the moon look beautiful." Those cautionary words begin a groundbreaking government report that found women were routinely sexually assaulted in one of India's most prestigious film industries. The release of that report has triggered a dizzying #MeToo-style reckoning. And a warning - our report contains disturbing details of sexual assault. Here's NPR's Diaa Hadid in Mumbai.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Bollywood is India's best-known film industry, but there's many others, like Mollywood in the southern state of Kerala.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (As characters, singing in non-English language).
HADID: Bollywood is highly regarded for creating box-office hits out of stories that tackle taboos in patriarchal Indian society, like "The Great Indian Kitchen."
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Family is a universal group - family based on marriage.
HADID: Anna Vetticad is a film critic.
ANNA VETTICAD: "The Great Indian Kitchen" explores the oppression that takes place within the space of a kitchen in a patriarchal, upper-caste Hindu home. It told a universal story that women across the country could relate to, which is why I think it went viral.
HADID: She calls the industry Malayalam cinema. That's the language spoken in Kerala.
VETTICAD: The irony, therefore, is that Malayalam cinema addresses patriarchy beautifully.
HADID: Irony because Mollywood actresses have fought for years to hold industry predators to account. It began in early 2017 after actress Bhavana Menon was abducted and sexually assaulted by several men in a car. Another man filmed it. She reported it to the police, which was unusual at the time for a working actress. Police arrested a Mollywood star called Dileep on charges of planning the crime. Local media report he sought revenge after the actress told his wife that he was having an affair. Dileep denies the charges. The case has languished in court.
PARVATHY THIRUVOTHU: What happened to our colleague changed our lives. The shock of it has not left us yet.
HADID: Parvathy Thiruvothu is a prominent Mollywood actress and one of more than a dozen who founded the Women in Cinema Collective to demand change after Menon's assault. They successfully lobbied the Kerala government to form a committee to investigate the industry's work conditions for women.
THIRUVOTHU: We decided that we'd pay any price, whatever it takes.
HADID: Because they realized how dangerous their workplaces were. The committee finalized its report five years ago, but then the government refused to release it on grounds of violating privacy. Momentum built after Bhavana Menon went public, identifying herself as the victim of that 2017 assault. She later told a journalist...
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BHAVANA MENON: I was broken into a million pieces. My dignity was, like, snatched away from me. I just wanted to put it out there that this is what has been happening in my life.
HADID: The government finally released the report on August 19. It found Mollywood had an entrenched culture of women and men pressured to have sex in order to get work. They could be blacklisted if they refused. In response, the general secretary of a key actors' association, a famous actor himself, told journalists he was unaware of a casting couch culture, but years before, an actress had accused him of assault. Two days later...
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We have some breaking news coming in. Following sexual...
HADID: That actress went public again with her accusations. This time she was taken seriously. Police opened an investigation. The actor denies the charges but resigned from his post. Two more board members of the same association were accused of similar allegations. Then all the office bearers of the association announced they were resigning. The police established a special investigation team. They've registered cases against nearly 20 people for alleged assault in hotel rooms, on sets. One actor has claimed a director demands sex in exchange for deleting footage of intimate scenes in a movie, scenes she wasn't comfortable with. There's cases against directors, actors, scriptwriters, producers. It's been a massive change, and all of it began, says actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, with a report that took women seriously.
THIRUVOTHU: I feel like these are women who are coming to the fore because they've suddenly felt like there's an opportunity to be believed.
HADID: Now the reckoning is testing Kerala's state government itself after police registered cases against an actor-turned-legislator.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: Women are holding protests demanding he resign.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: A protester says the government's shielding predators, not women.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: It echoes the introduction of the report that triggered this reckoning. It warned, do not trust what you see. Even salt looks like sugar. Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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