'Aattam' director says National Award-winning film not triggered by one incident

Anand Ekarshi, director of the National Award-winning film 'Aattam', clarified that his film on sexual assault is not inspired by a single incident. He also called for safer film sets for women.

In Short

• Anand Ekarshi's debut film 'Aattam' won three National Awards
• It tackles the issue of sexual violence
• The director emphasised the need for concrete measures to ensure safer environments for women

Filmmaker Anand Ekarshi, whose debut film 'Aattam' recently won three National Awards, said that his film based on sexual assault wasn't based on one particular case. He called for concrete measures to ensure film sets are safer environments for women in the film industry. His comments come in the wake of the Justice Hema Committee report, which highlighted instances of sexual misconduct within the Malayalam film industry.

Anand Ekarshi spoke about what inspired the story of 'Aattam'. He told Indian Express, "When writing the movie, I wasn’t thinking of a particular case. When I decided that sexual assault would be the crime in my story, I wanted to talk about the dimensions and perspective not been spoke about it what happens behind the doors. I wasn’t thinking of what was happening in the film industry or any particular case."

He continued, “When I did the script narration, I was told that once the film is released there could be parallel readings of it with whatever is happening in the society. Which is fair, even though we didn’t intend that, once a film is done they can read it the way they want. This crime isn’t only limited to the industry anyway, even though it’s related.”

When asked about making film sets safer for women, Anand emphasised that production houses must implement measures to drive systemic change. “There’s a lot of systemic problems. Most films are a result of people coming together, who you don’t know. You don’t know their background or mindset, you’re there for a temporary period," he said.

The filmmaker continued, “If there’s a panel on every film, then there will be a responsible behaviour by people, you’d know that there is somebody watching out. That’s an important thing that should be brought to action as soon as possible. This panel—be it one person or two people—should be with them throughout the production of the movie.”

Watch the trailer of 'Aattam' here:

Malayalam film 'Aattam' won three awards at the 70th National Film Awards. The film tackles the issue of sexual violence, which continues to resonate with contemporary audiences. Starring Zarin Shihab, Vijay Forrt and Kalabhavan Shajohn, 'Aattam' is currently streaming on Prime Video