LIGHTS, CAMERA, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

WOMEN IN INDIA'S ENTERTAINMENT SECTOR BELIEVE THAT THE INDUSTRY HAS COME A LONG WAY IN TERMS OF HAVING MORE WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE, BUT THERE'S STILL A GULF IN TERMS OF EQUALITY, ESPECIALLY IN LEADERSHIP ROLES

- PRERNA LIDHOO

IN 2003, WHEN a wide-eyed Aparna Purohit, then in her early twenties, started working on a film set, some of her dreams had come true. But she soon realised others would take their own sweet time to fructify.

Back then, some film sets didn't even have basic facilities like toilets or changing rooms for women, and Purohit-who's survived all this and worse-stands tall today as the Head of India and Southeast Asia Originals at Amazon Prime Video to tell that often harrowing tale. "I recollect being on an outdoor shoot once where the actress and I were the only women in the crew. There were no facilities; no toilets or changing rooms in a remote outdoor location-and demanding basic rights got us labelled as 'difficult to work with"," she recalls. She says the only way out is to speak up.

"As I grew in my career, these were some of the things that I looked into as priorities. I want to make sure that women are not easily dismissed and don't go through such experiences as they find their foothold in this industry," she says.

Sure, India's entertainment industry has come a long way from when Purohit was starting out. Directors like Zoya Akhtar, producers like Guneet Monga Kapoor, writers like Juhi Chaturvedi, cinematographers like Fowzia Fathima and editors like Aarti Bajaj were few and far between. Women in India's entertainment sector believe that while the industry has come a long way over the years, it's still a long, long way away from equality, especially in terms of leadership roles.

SORRY STATE