New Delhi: The Justice Hema Committe report has created a storm of discussion in the Southern film industry. A release after four-and-a-half years of some of the most shocking incidents involving treatment of women actors and their plight, including other women staff on a film production unit, has led to a massive outcry of protests and opinions shunning the findings. Chiyaan Vikram shared his views about the findings of the report and the recent crimes against women in the country.
Women need to feel safe at any odd hours or place and the onus is on men to give them their space, Vikram told news agency PTI, who called the recent incidents of crime against women in the country "disgusting".
The 58-year-old actor's remarks come in the wake of the alleged rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata and the Justice Hema Committee report on women's state in the Malayalam film industry.
"All women need to feel protected. They should be able to walk the streets at 3.00 in the morning and feel they can walk, go home, and that nobody will do anything. That every man is there to protect them, to give them their space. It's disgusting what's happening," Vikram told PTI.
The actor, whose Tamil film ‘Thangalaan’ is releasing in North India with the Hindi version arriving in theatres on Friday, also added that he has often wondered about tackling the issue of women's safety in his films. We get affected by most things that happen... I’ve always thought that if I was creative, would I address it more in my movies? Will I do something?” he added.
Connecting the state of affairs in the country to ‘Thangalaan’ director Pa Ranjith films' whos erecurrent theme has been about changing the entire system, Vikram added, “It’s something that I’m trying to figure out, ‘What do we do? What does the nation need to do? Do we start young? Do we start inculcating these things in children?’ As Pa Ranjith says, ‘Change the whole system and start from scratch’. I don’t know, something has to be done."
Kolkata rape-murder case
A postgraduate trainee woman doctor was allegedly raped and murdered in the seminar hall of Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, following which a Kolkata Police civic volunteer was arrested.
Justice Hema Committee report
The Justice Hema Committee report, released on August 19, details the power nexus in the Malayalam cinema industry and lays bare the multiple levels of exploitation faced by women in it. The Kerala government-appointed panel to study issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality was constituted after the 2017 actress assault case involving actor Dileep.
About Thangalaan
Set against the backdrop of the Kolar gold mines of Karnataka in the 19th century, the film released globally in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam on September 6.