Sandalwood, Not Scandalwood? India’s First Plaints Body ‘FIRE’ To Deal With Casting Couch Concerns In Film World

Following allegations of sexual abuse, the Kannada film industry has operationalised its Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) called ‘Film Industry for Rights and Equality (FIRE). Although FIRE was formed in March 2017, the members were formally announced only on Sunday (21 October). FIRE aims to deal with cases of sexual harassment and issues such as casting couch in the industry.

Registered as a not-for-profit society, FIRE will be headed by Kavitha Lankesh, a filmmaker with actor Chetan as its secretary. The body comprises two legal experts and in totality has nine women representatives, The New Indian Express has reported.

Apart from Chetan and Lankesh, the other nine members of FIRE include Jayna Kothari, Rekha Rani, Panchami, Vijayalakshmi Patil, Vijayamma, Veena Sunder, Roopa Iyer, Sruthi Hariharan and Maruthi Jadeyar.

Workshops on gender sensitivity, self-defence programmes and film appreciation seminars are being planned across colleges by FIRE. The complainant’s identity will be maintained confidential, and the body is encouraging artists to speak up if they face any form of harassment in the industry.

Jayna Kothari, a legal expert, has been quoted by The New Indian Express as saying, “Bollywood is the largest film industry in the country and they don’t have an ICC, but now Sandalwood does. Anything done laced with sexual overtones can also be harassment.”