Indian actor Sreelekha Mitra, fearful for her safety, recalls barricading her hotel room door with chairs and a sofa after being sexually harassed by a renowned veteran director.
Mitra, who waited 15 years to reveal her ordeal, has brought to light one of several cases exposing the troubling side of India’s Malayalam-language Mollywood film industry, known for its critically acclaimed films.
Her decision to speak out was influenced by a recent government report documenting widespread sexual harassment in the industry, which is largely controlled by powerful men who often equate on-screen roles with real-life behavior. “I stayed awake the entire night,” Mitra, now 51, told reporters.
In 2009, when she was 36, Mitra was invited to the director’s house under the pretense of a phone call with a cinematographer. She described how he began to touch her inappropriately, leading her to flee to her hotel in terror.
“The intentions behind his actions were clear to me… I was petrified,” she said.
The report, released on August 19 by the Hema Committee—a panel led by a former high court judge—revealed that women in the industry frequently face severe sexual harassment. The report followed the 2017 assault of a leading Malayalam actor and the subsequent arrest of prominent actor Dileep, who remains a central figure in the case.
The report has spurred a MeToo reckoning in Mollywood, leading to accusations against at least ten prominent figures. Award-winning actor Parvathy Thiruvothu, 36, praised the investigation as a “game changer,” highlighting the systemic failures that perpetuate abuse.
The fallout has been significant. The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists was dissolved, and Ranjith Balakrishnan, chairman of the state’s film academy and one of the accused, has resigned. Balakrishnan, who denies the allegations, faces legal action for outraging a woman’s modesty.
Thiruvothu urged survivors to speak out, asserting, “This is your industry as much as it is anyone else’s. Speak up, so that we are taking the space that is rightfully ours.”
