Scattered and Siloed? Reading Together Women’s Interventions in Malayalam Cinema Production Cultures

Since the formation of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) in 2017 in response to the sexual assault on an actress, the Malayalam cinema industry in Kerala, India, has witnessed significant debates regarding gender justice in film labour practices. The sustained critiques mounted by the WCC have catalysed a range of institutional initiatives: the establishment of workplace complaints committees, dedicated grants for women filmmakers, and the partial release of the Hema Committee Report, which documented the structural conditions faced by women film workers. Even as implementing reforms remains an uphill task, feminist questions of gender parity and sexual harassment are also reshaping major film associations and trade unions, including AMMA and FEFKA, where women members are engaging in diverse negotiation strategies. This essay maps these interventions beyond WCC frameworks, offering a coalitional reading of the broader ecology of women’s agency in Malayalam film production cultures.