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00:00i have been propositioned where people have asked me people who are coordinating inaugurations have
00:05asked whether i'm willing to compromise i will get maybe five times the money uh and then they
00:11very again very professionally casually uh spoken to about these things and they say oh if you're
00:16not willing these people are doing it and they put names out of certain famous uh actresses and
00:22they say oh they do this for so much they do this for so much you can do it you get so much more
00:26money and i'm like i wish money was the central of the centric you know force of it all that works
00:31for me i'm doing this because i enjoy the work that i do i'm an mc so if i need to do inaugurations
00:36uh it's not like an extra you know but i do believe that we all come from privilege and we have the
00:41good morning this is matusha radha krishnan i'm the entertainment editor for gulf news
00:47and i have with me today ranjini harida she's a top anchor and actress and a model youtuber as well
00:54she wears several hats we are here to discuss what's happening in the malayalam film industry
00:59and thank you so much uh ranjini for joining us uh we we are talking about a very grim subject today
01:06it's not so happy what's happening i mean when you i know you've not been in the film industry
01:11actively but i'm sure you've hung out with actors you you know it you cross pollinate a lot right
01:17between tv and cinema so perhaps you could tell me like when you heard about the hema committee findings
01:24what were your first reactions um to be honest uh like most uh malayali women at least we've been
01:32following uh the hema committee report uh since we realized that such a report was asked for by the
01:39government at the request of the wcc women because of the survivors uh incident that happened um which
01:46took the state by shock really um so evidently as a uh you know very obviously as as a woman who's
01:53really had to fight for her space uh like any other woman actually in any any in any household even
01:59in in india maybe kerala even uh i felt quite strongly about it um uh and i was quite keen on
02:06finding out as to whether it would come out which was the first big question because they sat on it for
02:11a very very long time uh which actually surprisingly is not being questioned enough might i add
02:17i believe that right now a lot of people are phrases for the government
02:22but i believe that the first thing that we should have questioned a lot more vehemently
02:32is why it took four and a half years for it to come out so i'm quite suspicious about that
02:36right at the onset i i need to know i'm curious to know why it came out now why not six months ago
02:43why not a year ago why not when it was submitted and when you first read it because on one side
02:48because they sat on it for four and a half years they caused additional trauma to the same women or
02:53additional women or men or everybody else you know whoever has gone through trauma in that four
02:58and a half years or abuse or uh disparity uh human rights violations everything that the report spoke
03:03about they extended by four and a half years right and who's to blame for that and that answer is
03:09very easy it's the government but unfortunately i don't see anything happening there but anyway
03:13i think everyone's forgotten about it moving on now now the reports come out the moment the report
03:21came out some of the reaction that i saw was how everybody was shocked by it i don't understand how
03:27and why anyone was shocked by it because it's the biggest open secret anywhere uh in the world
03:32yes true it's not limited it it i i find it quite funny i find it quite funny that people from the
03:41industry are saying it most uh and what's the i don't yes yeah sorry no no no what do you think
03:47go for it no i mean i i'm okay with people who don't know about the industry maybe guessing about it
03:53it's okay i'm somebody who's worked uh you know in very adjacent in a parallel path to which
04:00television and even though i've done a few movies so because of those that limited exposure that i've
04:05had in movies i know i know at least the stories that float everywhere i've i've seen certain things
04:11i've seen the uh differences how people actually did um uh that there are a lot of dubious circumstances
04:18that i have seen around so i mean and the stories that i have worked everyone's heard stories you know
04:24uh not just about the movie industry but every woman actually we've all heard stories i keep saying
04:29i've had so many stories about myself you know people say that any any woman who's successful i
04:35don't know whether you've faced it manjusha but if you are a successful woman uh we are doing
04:40something that's out of the ordinary apparently so yeah i mean of course i mean they they often say
04:46that how did she get to the top did she exactly apparently you can't be successful unless you've gone
04:51through this particular pathway of uh righteousness that they would like to call it but torture and
04:58abuse for us right um so it's it's it's not it's not shocking to anyone a lot of women were coming
05:05and saying it is shocking women and men and whoever else i don't know why they're doing it maybe it's
05:10it's uh having allegiance to the industry that they come from and they probably don't want to see
05:14the industry being destroyed and you know drag through the muck so it's really painful for us
05:20to see our industry go through this of course um uh yeah so i want to ask you uh i know i saw your
05:29youtube where you said that you know i'm not even surprised when a filmmaker or somebody from the
05:34industry insider asked you for like incriminating selfies like um you know compromising i don't know
05:42pictures controversial images it's not even like a problem because those are not even i don't i don't
05:47even think they are uh issues because it's done so politely you know it's really funny i have to tell
05:54you about this other really no no no he sent me his selfie first without a shirt okay i'm not going to
06:02name the person purely because i don't have the evidence to prove it right now because i deleted it
06:06right there he's somebody i've known for many many years uh and i i don't have many friends from the
06:12industry so i'm not going to call anybody your friend from it they're all acquaintances that i've
06:15known along the way uh uh the conversation starts out as a chat or when you've met some but when you
06:22met the person somewhere after a long time you're friendly you're traveling on the same flight back
06:26you exchange niceties you talk about this and that and everything and then you exchange numbers
06:31once again because you've lost your number we've i've known the person from many many when i was a
06:35little girl uh similar age as well if you want to guess do some guesswork anyway uh
06:41but uh it was really funny that uh initially the messages started and then very polite and then
06:49they send me a selfie from that they uh a shirtless selfie and then the next thing immediately is send
06:55me your picture there was no demand there was just send me a pic of yours there was no demand of how
07:00the picture and i was like i just ignored it for the first time i was like and the funniest thing
07:05is you know i'm known to be a very vocal person i'm known to be a feminist i'm known to be somebody
07:09who will give you one chapat on your face that's me and this person knows that i am like that i can't
07:15believe that person has the guts to send me of all people and i consider myself you know quite empowered
07:21and kerala considers me a bit outspoken so i was really shocked that this person had the guts to do
07:29this so i was like listen like millions of times like women have done it many women before me have
07:35done it and many women after me will do it i was like wrong window bro wrong window bro no but
07:41kind of casual um a sexism that exists say oh you know and to an emboldened woman like you are
07:49where you are told i am a self-proclaimed feminist people in kerala know it they still have the uh
07:55guts to actually so what was this about the uh malayalam the the composer that you're talking about
08:02like yeah so again i that's why i wanted to say this uh just to bring out how casual it is right
08:10just for you to understand uh everyone a lot of people know that this person's quite active uh
08:17uh in asking for a particular type of favor uh and that is probably because of it's probably
08:24through consent i'm not saying it's not consensual but um so i was me being me i was like uh you know
08:32this person asked me for the same right and uh i was like dude you know me so well how are you even
08:39asking me like aren't we like friends like brothers how are you asking me and then you know what he said
08:45he said oh i'm gonna knock on every door some door closes some doors will open that was his response
08:51to me and and then honestly i'm somebody who would respect a person for being honest about certain
08:55things so i was like i mean you're not forcing the door open i don't know what to say you know
09:01like as long as there's consent who am i to say anything that's where the problem comes okay let me
09:07tell you consent it's such a gray area it is it is it's such a gray area i can say yes because i
09:15want to do it or i can say yes if i want something from you you don't have to tell me what you might
09:22give me does that make it okay another thing is here you're not looking at power dynamics what if
09:31exactly you'll be more powerful yeah if i if if a boss's boss asks you a favor your job is on the
09:38line so even your consent does it really is it a consent or were you coerced into precisely precisely
09:44what i'm saying because because of the power dynamics that's the biggest issue this industry
09:50is going to face in finding the truth the fight is going to struggle with this one particular area
09:56of consent because how do you know is that or that was a pressurized one because of a lot of
10:05uh you know uh issue or circumstantial problems that this particular woman has been put through whether
10:11it be her job on the line whether it's money on you know whatever i think that's going to be an
10:16issue that they this industry or any any industry is going to struggle to face uh and i don't know the
10:23answer to that and i've been trying to figure out you know how we're all trying to find out answers
10:26to systematically change the system how the wcp has put up a strong fight amidst so many sacrifice so
10:33much sacrifice you know all of them have lost so much work uh they've all been incredible in their
10:37growing face and then this thing happens they all decide to stick together and because a bunch of
10:41women decide to stick together and ask for change they've lost out a lot yes yes
10:46so much of it but what are they asking for that what's wrong in what they're asking for
10:52no it's like it's basic i know and ranjali have you been denied work uh because of because you said
11:02no or was it oh uh no um let me tell you something about the television industry um i have been a part
11:09of the events industry the modeling industry and the television industry i mean television events
11:13modeling and i mean modeling first then events then tv and then films that's how my graph goes right
11:20i'm a freelancer i have never worked permanently with any institution i still haven't so the last
11:2420 years when i've been in tv i've never been uh an employee of any firm so you're not i've been called
11:30no i've been called i sign a contract i do a show and i've always had a contract if it's a big
11:37tv program and to be very honest i don't know the serial world i don't know how that works in
11:42television because we are very different we work in the entity the other side reality tv
11:46i think reality tv from an anchor's experience for me no one's ever asked me anything okay that's but
11:53i i can't say that about the ad world i can't say that about the modeling world i can't say that about
11:58the uh inauguration world um i have been propositioned uh where people have asked me people
12:05who are coordinating inaugurations have asked whether i'm willing to compromise i will get maybe five
12:11times the money uh and then they very again very professionally casually uh spoken to about these
12:17things and they say oh if you're not willing that these people are doing it and they put names out of
12:22certain famous uh actresses and they say oh they do this for so much they do this for so much you can
12:27do it you get so much more money and i'm like i wish money was the central of eccentric you know force
12:32of it all that works for me i'm doing this because i enjoy the work that i do i'm an mc so if i need to
12:37do inaugurations uh it's not like an extra you know but i do believe that we all come from privilege
12:43and we have the uh that's something that's yeah that's something from a position of privilege often
12:51they say that predators know how to spot their praise they always choose people who cannot or
12:57cannot afford to say no people are wondering there is a why are junior artists speaking up as
13:03opposed to why are not a-listers speaking up is that debate even valid because does it matter
13:09whether you're an a-lister or a d-lister or whatever lister it's something terrible happened to a woman
13:14at her workplace shouldn't that be addressed is it no absolutely controlling the survivors now
13:20who is she she's here for a quick buck what kind of capacity can a woman
13:23yeah as you can see who's asking those questions all these media houses are asking these questions
13:30because they just mean they want content to run for another week or two they are just looking for
13:35their daily trps daily news items that they can put out there so people watch and sensationalism
13:40sells such information sells yellow journalism at its peak you know earlier reporting used to be where
13:46you put facts out to the people and you give information to the people today reporting is no
13:50more that today it's all about opinions really isn't it people are giving out their opinions on things
13:55that are happening and then you've got discussions and this and that and it's it's just you know how
14:00you can make it more spicy and more uh hot for the people who are watching it a woman touched is a
14:07woman touched wrongly you know it doesn't matter if it's a junior artist or a senior artist so i feel
14:12that argument is baseless uh which means that you're seeing it in a different eye you want you're saying
14:17if a big a-lister comes and says i've been through this suddenly the whole situation is true
14:21just because junior actors don't say it it doesn't validate i see a lot of uh famous respectable
14:27individuals come and talk about why did they say it now why didn't they say it then i'm like how do
14:33you know what circumstances they were and i haven't talked about you know the first time i was touched
14:37inappropriately i was probably nine or ten or eleven it was somebody that was a family friend of my
14:43grandparents i will never forget it to this day you know i remember telling my mother when i was way
14:48older and said you know that person i know he's a predator i just know it okay because he touched me
14:54he tried to lift up my skirt but i was such i was smart enough i think around 10 to it must have been
14:5810 12 because i was i started becoming physically aware of my sexuality then i can very confidently
15:03tell you what struggle the people who cannot speak are going through because being outspoken and vocal
15:09we still get propositioned pretty much on a weekly basis it's terrible at least it's terrible at least
15:15we're not putting ourselves out there you know we don't have to go by bus walk on the road very
15:20rarely do i have to do that it happens to me when i go to events now or when i go to inaugurations or
15:24public functions where i have to probably walk amidst people i still get broke when you're walking
15:29through public in in a crowd so i mean every woman does every young girl does so till it may be viewed as
15:36a sexual property it's it's gonna be very tough but what makes me very happy manjusha is
15:41there are there were random fights uh of vocal women talking out and speaking up for it here and
15:48there but now we have a bunch of women coming together that's what reema very i was watching
15:51your interview with reema and that's what she said um in fact the wcc says it's you know earlier you
15:58were lonely there is no power when you're alone and it's scary when you're alone but now you have a
16:02bunch of women who are coming there and saying it doesn't matter we've been through similar stuff
16:07you know we've gone through this we're going to be there for you irrespective of what happens
16:11and that is why i believe right now the government releasing the report and the women still saying
16:16the same thing and all of us women and men and everyone else talking about it and who are so-called
16:21allies this is the time to try and make that change it's not going to be easy i don't think it's going
16:27to be an easy thing to change no no you know it's basically a part of the thing you know what is
16:32interesting is mohalal and mamuti's statements uh my interview with reema was done before they
16:37gave a thing i was so disappointed by it it's don't give us token activism at this point in time
16:43because what they said is stop tarnishing our malayalam film industry a b that there are no power
16:49clicks in malayalam cinema see i think their point was like you know what good and bad exists in
16:56every every industry cinema is a reflection of that at no point was there direct support vocal
17:03support given by these actors of immense clout widely adored they have a fan base where if they
17:10take a stand people will take a stand too they have that kind of clout and immense power but what
17:15they displayed was a very immensely soft and politically diplom correct and diplomatic
17:21what were your thoughts when you read it i don't even think it was politically correct or
17:26diplomatic to be honest politically politically correct would have been them coming and saying
17:29i support them that's politically correct that's what all of us are doing okay it's not like i'm
17:34telling you all the stories i know i'm not a lot more inside of me i'm not because i'm being
17:41politically correct right now okay so i find it extreme i i was hurt i was hurt by it i mean as
17:48you know when we talk about the malayalam film industry the two names that we talk about of course
17:52and the focus this time came on only because he was the president of the amma body because uh people
17:59see that him to be the leader of this this group of people that they have chosen right and he's liable
18:05to come and speak about it uh it was really sad to see that they decided to not uh talk about it at all
18:12they didn't even have to come and say anything they didn't even have to say uh good or bad things
18:17about either of the parties or either side all this all they had to say was just you know just
18:22represent represent their industry and say we are so sorry that this is happening here and uh you
18:29know this is the time that we can actually maybe help change the way things work tell me what we can
18:34do tell me what i can do that's all that's all they needed to do because i don't think it takes a lot
18:39uh to change system you know you need to talk about the systematic changes that these women have
18:44been talking about those are not very difficult to do because they've done way worse when covid came
18:50shooting still continued people started making movies from sitting in their four walls people
18:56started having all sorts of requirements that they fulfilled and that was a process of a couple of
19:02years you were you kind of adapt you learn interesting you evolve you evolve right that's that is what
19:11change is about nothing has to be fixed and stay the same way for the entirety of your life
19:15that is evolution that is why we're human the human race right right i mean you have to change so you
19:20have to say no to the bad bits you accept it's okay you've all messed up we get it we've all messed
19:25up in our lives we've all made mistakes there is nobody that's perfect in the world and yeah this
19:29mistake is more glaring because you are the most public industry out there you are the movies we look
19:35up to you and when we get stuff that we can throw stones at you we will throw stones at you even
19:39in front of us you know but that doesn't mean you don't own up to it just own up to it accept it
19:47yes it's happening and say you will try to change don't change please tell us you'll try to kevin
19:52spacey from house of cards was uh canceled yeah my god i know he's a massive actor as an actor he's
19:58brilliant but at the end of the day when sexual misconduct allegations surface whether the
20:02uh whether he's been proven or not the industry took a stand yeah the industry took a stand here
20:10i think that has to happen that collective individuals can't individuals can't take a
20:17stand because for us we don't really work in totality i'm called for an event or i'm called
20:22imagine an actress called for a movie we don't really ask who all are there on stage we look at
20:27just our thing okay what is how much am i getting paid for what how many hours am i working for
20:32what is the location it is when i get to my event an hour before that i sit down for my briefing and
20:38then i find out oh this person is there oh that person is there we don't really find out about it
20:42because we have other things on my mind our life is going on you know we are doing other things
20:46we're doing different events we're doing different work so that has worked for us when we get there
20:51and you find out that this person that you've already agreed to do this event you can't suddenly
20:54say i can't do it because at that point it's your responsibility the person who's coordinating the
20:59even the industry who is coordinating it they have to do it first for the people further down
21:04to do it and that is why we want these changes to kind of start right at the top where the government
21:09has to put it down put it into system throw it down to each of the industry so the industry can
21:14follow it till that happens i don't think expecting people to react uh is going to make any sort or bring
21:20any sort of change and you shouldn't put people in that situation fair enough fair enough but i really
21:25hope women are treated better and i really hope change is just around the corner because at the
21:29end of the day we can talk about it like how we had this conversation ranjiri but i think at the end
21:34of the day i really hope like you said changes within the system systemic changes have to come about
21:39otherwise it's we are just talking right it's just dialogue but i really hope uh you know wcc and
21:45women like you fierce women like you anchors um and you know models who have actually taken on the
21:50system in ways they know i think you have done that uh well done i think you know what you are
21:55standing up you're getting haters people are loving you you get haters also by the dozens which is very
22:01cool i love it yeah i love it it feeds me it's like yeah yeah you're not famous that's what
22:09no no i i mean it doesn't matter but i have to also tell you you know i don't i as somebody who
22:15was extremely vocal in my younger days i was extremely vocal in my late 20s when i came into
22:19the industry because i found it really weird because i had to adjust or people were trying
22:23to put me into a system that was so different from the way i was right uh so there was a lot of
22:28that so i reacted against it quite vehemently so every person that wanted to talk to me on the
22:33news channel or interviews or debates i would go plonk myself on a chair and just talk you know
22:37i did that for the first five six years of my life to the point where suddenly i realized oh my
22:42god i'm really a minority you know yeah and then it took a little while for the state to catch up
22:52with me and today i feel like there are millions of people who feel the way i feel a lot of them
22:57who feel it and they're all talking and they're all fighting you know they're all asking for things
23:01i love it i love it so i'm just like why should i also talk now let them talk i feel like i've worked
23:05really hard in my younger days you've laid the foundation for it you've laid the foundation
23:10yeah i mean not just me i'm sure different yeah i'm sure different people in different
23:15people in their fields have laid their foundation their times but today especially the youngsters
23:21you know they're so much more uh knowledgeable about a lot of these things about gender sensitivity
23:26and about uh just most things the way they are are very different
23:30which is way easier to work with that more traditional patriarchal kind of attitudes have
23:39shifted because of uh a lot of people and i believe it's because of this movement that is
23:44happening right now because of the survivor uh reacting or putting or filing a case that
23:48wcc women sticking together the hema committee report coming out and this large human cry being
23:52made in the state i believe that even bigger change is going to happen it will happen even
23:56nothing happens that change will happen to a percentage which is going to which is which
24:01is satisfying it will happen and i'm quite happy about it
24:04you
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