Women must speak up then and there

INTERVIEW-Khushbu Sundar, actor and BJP leader

- LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

Q/ What do you have to say about the Hema committee report? Do you think that it will help women in the industry to speak up?

A/ I am happy that the Hema committee report has come out. First of all, congratulations to the seven women who stood together and decided that they should fight it out. I understand that sexual assaults have been going on in the Malayalam industry for a long time. But I haven’t experienced something like this. I feel the report will make women speak up. What is important is that women speak up immediately when subjected to abuse. You adjust and compromise because you don’t want your career to be affected and then you speak up 15 or 20 years later; I feel that is not the right thing to do.

Today, the entire executive committee of AMMA, including Mohanlal, has resigned. So there is a new leadership that is going to come up. I think that even the men are standing up in solidarity with the women. But I feel they failed in supporting a woman or protecting her. I am glad that everyone, including Mohanlal, has quit from their post. But unfortunately, it is only cinema that is in the limelight. These kind of sexual abuse or asking for favours exist in every field and industry. So we need to look back as to where we have been failing.