Telugu film industry releases women-friendly guidelines

The Telugu film industry has been mired in controversies recently with many women artistes coming forward with allegations of sexual harassment. Several women's organisations, too, have been protesting over lack of a mechanism to address workplace sexual harassment in showbiz, and even the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took note of the absence of a committee to address such complaints. The Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce, last month,decided to establish Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) to track all grievances raised by members of the film industry, and on Wednesday, representatives of the Telugu film industry, including N Shankar, Thammareddy Bharadwaja and P Kiran, have come forward with a set of guidelines to protect the dignity of women. 

Reiterating that woman's safety and honour is the top priority of the industry, they reaffirmed the setting up of CASH, after seeking legal opinion on the framework of the committee. The guidelines issued include: providing women with the access to decent and safe toilets and changing rooms, conducting workshops for women in 24 crafts to spread awareness among them, the deployment of at least one woman with no interest in films on the sets while auditions are being recorded, the institution of a SHE hotline, setting up a new panel to counsel aspiring actresses and models if they face any issues, making available email/Post helplines at the Film Chamber, and mandatory licensing and qualification for modelling coordinators.