On a recent visit to the set of a Malayalam film, Kerala Women's Commission chairperson P Satheedevi found that the team did not have an Internal Complaints Committee (IC) to address sexual harassment at workplace. The film, Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, directed by Vinesh Viswanath, was being shot in Kakkanad, Kochi, when Satheedevi made her visit. Upon finding out that there was no IC, the chairperson advised the team about the need to form one and let them off. An office bearer of the Kerala Film Producers’ Association (KFPA) told TNM that the film’s producer had taken immediate action and formed an IC.
"The producer of the film is new and said that he had just had a personal loss and was not fully aware about the procedure. It was upon the visit of the Women's Commission chairperson that it was discovered that the production did not have an IC. She spoke to them about it," said Rakesh, treasurer of the KFPA.
Actors including Sreerang Shine, Abhinav, Aju Varghese, Johny Antony, and Saiju Kurup are part of the film. It is produced by Nishant Pillai and MA Mohammed Rafi and made under the banner of Budget Lab.
The Kerala High Court had in March this year ordered that all production houses and film bodies should form an IC after the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) filed a public interest litigation for establishing one in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A.). However, the IC that was formed in the A.M.M.A. was soon dissolved after three of its members chose to quit, following the inaction of the film body against actor-producer Vijay Babu who is the accused in a case of sexual assault. After this, a 27-member IC was formed for the Malayalam film industry by the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce.