On Women’s Day, director Arati Kadav, editor Deepa Bhatia, and other female professionals urge for better hygiene on sets, safe transportation and better work practices in the Hindi film industry
Deepa Bhatia and Arati Kadav
The world celebrates Women’s Day today. But what is a celebration if it’s not preceded by change? In the past few years, Bollywood has witnessed positive change as there has been increased representation of women on and off camera. But it’s a long road ahead to equality, finds out mid-day as we talk to women in different streams of filmmaking, including direction, editing, writing, cinematography and stunts.ADVERTISEMENTWhy are basics elusive?Mrs director Arati Kadav highlights that even in 2025, women on set often don’t have access to basic amenities like hygienic washrooms. “When I started out, there was one washroom for all the HoDs. I protested that I didn’t want to share washrooms with men. You have to ask for something that I thought was a given. If you are a director, you will probably have a better working condition. But if you’re a female AD or an assistant in any department, there are no special provisions made for you. Since I was given a separate washroom [as a director], I encouraged women crew members to use mine,” complains Kadav. Senior cinematographer Neha Parti Matiyani, who has worked on titles like My Name Is Khan, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Netflix’ upcoming show Royals, says she has seen a lot change over 20 years of her career but it’s sad something as basic as hygiene is still an issue on smaller productions.
“Sadly enough it is the same problems that existed when I started. Which was, luckily I worked with production houses which took care of issues like bathrooms for women. But across the board, if you are not on a ‘A’ grade production, then bathrooms for women is still a problem,” she says.
This is not restricted to sets. Leading editor Deepa Bhatia, who recently worked on Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous, shares that offices of studios and production houses too are lacking on the sanitation front. “Editors complain of poor sanitation maintained in the bathrooms,” she says.
Cinematographer Pranjal Picha, who has assisted on films like Mere Husband Ki Biwi and Khel Khel Mein (2024), says it takes just two simple words to bring about a change. “All a woman needs is a separate “ONLY FEMALE” door on set and not just only on the shoot days but also on prep days, during set ups and lighting. So no matter how big or small budget the project is, if you have women working on sets, it be actors, juniors, technicians or crew, make sure they don’t have to ask for it, just give it already,” she says.
Work Hours
Screenwriter Kalyani Pandit points out that work timing is another issue. Apparently, many male writers like working late into the night. She notes, “When a woman joins the writers’ room, they try to keep the discussions [and writing sessions] during the day. But it’s made out to be such an inconvenience. If you’re adjusting, toh jata kyun rahe ho?” she asks.
Safety concerns
Every day, thousands of women go to work to what’s called Bollywood. And every day, the fight stars way before they reach and long after they leave the workplace, even in 2025. Kadav stresses on a systemic change when it comes to women travelling to and from sets. “Sometimes, the pack-up happens at 1 or 2 am. The expectation is that the women in the crew will figure it out with their male colleagues. Sometimes, shoots happen in obscure locations, deep inside Film City. Those at the executive level should think about how women will come to set at early hours and leave so late.”
Bhatia echoes Kadav’s sentiment, noting that the physical safety of women working late at nights is not discussed enough. “Editing involves late working hours. [The production houses] don’t think about how the women are reaching home. I have a small WhatsApp group where whenever a member leaves, they drop a text, saying, ‘This is the rickshaw/cab number,’ and on reaching home, they leave another text. Simple things like making sure that people reach home safely [should be looked into]. Also, one needs to consider that when associates, assistant editors or even the editors are the last people to leave the establishment, is the right kind of staff present? I remember an incident where an office boy misbehaved with a woman in the team, and we had to get him out. So, we should ask: Is it safe when she is the last person leaving the studio or the office?”
Oddly, safety concerns also cost women opportunities. Pandit says, “I have heard how for outdoor shoots, productions try to avoid taking women citing safety concerns. This hampers opportunities for women.”
Genres have genders?
We have more women-centric stories on screen, and more women screenwriters. While that is a reason for celebration, the discrimination is evident in the smallest things, says Pandit, who has written the dialogues of 2023 Marathi film Unaad. “Female writers aren’t even offered horror or stories with ‘angry-young-man’ characters. They come to women writers for female-centric stories. The mindset is still that women are better at writing slice-of-life stories. she rues, adding that there are also times when producers hire a female writer only for tokenism. “I have seen cases where even for a female-centric story, they will hire men and just one woman just to show diversity in the writer’s room.”
A female writer’s fight is not just for rightful inclusion, but also to be heard. Pandit shares how creative heads often favour the opinion of a male writer over his female counterpart, even if the latter holds expertise over the subject.
“No matter if I am more experienced than my male contemporary or I have more personal experience of the subject that the story revolves around, if a man is speaking in a meeting, his opinion gets more weightage than what I say. Because, unfortunately, internalised patriarchy is also an issue, I have seen that even if there’s a female creative producer in a meeting, she will pay more heed to my male co-writer or male director. In one such case, where my co-writer didn’t have such a mindset, I found a solution to get my point across. I would tell him, ‘You share my idea, because it will get approved if you say it. It won’t if I share it.’ This really bothers me. It comes down to how many battles can you fight? You know finally, the credit will be shared by both the writers, so you let go of what happens in a meeting.”
30 women came together to form Indian Women Cinematographers Collective (IWCC) in 2016. It has grown to 200 members today, but Matiyani, its founding member, says there has been much growth in people’s attitude towards hiring female cinematographers. “To get independent work it is still a bit difficult for people who started out after us and the problem remains the same that women have to prove themselves versus people, who would take a chance on a male DoP starting out. That hasn’t changed very much. So whatever the change, that’s not substantial enough.” Picha spells the reason. “People somewhere still have a mindset that men can do better as cinematographers than women because it’s a technical and a physical job.”
The silver lining
There have been positive changes over the last few years. Make-up artist Hrida Advani, whose work includes Sky is Pink (2019) and Mirzapur, notes that production houses now view make-up as an integral part of storytelling, making them feel more included on set. “It has been a long journey from being addressed as ‘parlour wali’ to a ‘professional artist’,” she says.
Stunt artist Geeta Tandon, having a 17-year experience that includes huge productions like Chennai Express, The Family Man and Citadel: Honey Bunny, acknowledges that work for stuntwomen is more than ever, and in a healthy environment. “I have more work than ever and there is more action to do. Female stunt women are taken more seriously now. Earlier there was a notion that men could also do stunts for female actors but now these opportunities are exclusively offered to stunt-women. There is either a vanity van or AC tents for women action staff. If we are in locations like Ladakh, where these things are not possible, we are given rooms with toilets and other facilities. Earlier, when I would be on my period, I used to feel shy to ask for a break to change my sanitary pad. My clothes would get stained, but I would be asked to do one more shot. Now I can ask for breaks, and use the washroom as and when required. This is the best time to be in this profession as more and more women-led actioners are being made.”
Pandit mentions that there’s a shift in the industry culture since the MeToo movement that broke out in 2018 and had many women in Bollywood sharing accounts of sexual harassment at workplace. “There’s a difference between pre and post-MeToo. There’s definitely more awareness, not just from individual men but also from whoever is the final authority, like the producers. They also are watchful about the behaviour of other men on sets. Some comments, which would have been passed as healthy flirting, teasing or pulling someone’s leg aren’t welcomed by the authority. It’s probably just to save themselves. But that’s still a silver lining for the immediate future. So, maybe their mindset hasn’t changed, but they fear accountability so they are careful. There’s certain alertness exhibited by production houses and studios. I have seen people being fired for inappropriate comments. That’s the advantage of corporate culture. It does takes away the agency of creatives, but it makes one legally strong.”
An executive working in the development team of a mid-scale production house, on the condition of anonymity, says having women in leadership position has made a huge difference for working conditions for women in the industry. “We are an all women team, and you can feel the change. There’s more comfort, empathy and understanding. A lot of the issues that my peers face, I don’t because I have women in senior positions.”
But a systemic change is what will cause a permanent shift, believes Bhatia, who still witnesses “clannish” behaviour from men.
“I still worry about the sexually inappropriate conduct that’s placed in a very passive, quiet sort of way from people in power, it could be director, producer or someone lower down the picking order. There are still sexually inappropriate remarks. The clannish behaviour of men on sets concerns me. So, while we talk about sexual harassment, are people understanding what constitutes that? There needs to be a better system to report sexual harassment. We have our contracts that they tell us there won’t be any inappropriate behaviour from any HoD or anyone else. But some orientation sessions are needed for teams. Do we take the 100 people on set and say this is not acceptable or similarly to the post-production team? I have been editing for 20-25 years. In the last two years, after the lovely burst of women in post-production, I am actually noticing a dip in applications. I just gave a shoutout for the staff I needed for a project and I found the ratio skewing towards men. There are hardly any girls applying. I keep asking myself why is that happening. That’s something one needs to think about.”
The world celebrates Women’s Day today. But what is a celebration if it’s not preceded by change? In the past few years, Bollywood has witnessed positive change as there has been increased representation of women on and off camera. But it’s a long road ahead to equality, finds out mid-day as we talk to women in different streams of filmmaking, including direction, editing, writing, cinematography and stunts.
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Why are basics elusive?
Mrs director Arati Kadav highlights that even in 2025, women on set often don’t have access to basic amenities like hygienic washrooms. “When I started out, there was one washroom for all the HoDs. I protested that I didn’t want to share washrooms with men. You have to ask for something that I thought was a given. If you are a director, you will probably have a better working condition. But if you’re a female AD or an assistant in any department, there are no special provisions made for you. Since I was given a separate washroom [as a director], I encouraged women crew members to use mine,” complains Kadav.
Senior cinematographer Neha Parti Matiyani, who has worked on titles like My Name Is Khan, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Netflix’ upcoming show Royals, says she has seen a lot change over 20 years of her career but it’s sad something as basic as hygiene is still an issue on smaller productions.
“Sadly enough it is the same problems that existed when I started. Which was, luckily I worked with production houses which took care of issues like bathrooms for women. But across the board, if you are not on a ‘A’ grade production, then bathrooms for women is still a problem,” she says.
This is not restricted to sets. Leading editor Deepa Bhatia, who recently worked on Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous, shares that offices of studios and production houses too are lacking on the sanitation front. “Editors complain of poor sanitation maintained in the bathrooms,” she says.
Cinematographer Pranjal Picha, who has assisted on films like Mere Husband Ki Biwi and Khel Khel Mein (2024), says it takes just two simple words to bring about a change. “All a woman needs is a separate “ONLY FEMALE” door on set and not just only on the shoot days but also on prep days, during set ups and lighting. So no matter how big or small budget the project is, if you have women working on sets, it be actors, juniors, technicians or crew, make sure they don’t have to ask for it, just give it already,” she says.
Work Hours
Screenwriter Kalyani Pandit points out that work timing is another issue. Apparently, many male writers like working late into the night. She notes, “When a woman joins the writers’ room, they try to keep the discussions [and writing sessions] during the day. But it’s made out to be such an inconvenience. If you’re adjusting, toh jata kyun rahe ho?” she asks.
Safety concerns
Every day, thousands of women go to work to what’s called Bollywood. And every day, the fight stars way before they reach and long after they leave the workplace, even in 2025. Kadav stresses on a systemic change when it comes to women travelling to and from sets. “Sometimes, the pack-up happens at 1 or 2 am. The expectation is that the women in the crew will figure it out with their male colleagues. Sometimes, shoots happen in obscure locations, deep inside Film City. Those at the executive level should think about how women will come to set at early hours and leave so late.”
Bhatia echoes Kadav’s sentiment, noting that the physical safety of women working late at nights is not discussed enough. “Editing involves late working hours. [The production houses] don’t think about how the women are reaching home. I have a small WhatsApp group where whenever a member leaves, they drop a text, saying, ‘This is the rickshaw/cab number,’ and on reaching home, they leave another text. Simple things like making sure that people reach home safely [should be looked into]. Also, one needs to consider that when associates, assistant editors or even the editors are the last people to leave the establishment, is the right kind of staff present? I remember an incident where an office boy misbehaved with a woman in the team, and we had to get him out. So, we should ask: Is it safe when she is the last person leaving the studio or the office?”
Oddly, safety concerns also cost women opportunities. Pandit says, “I have heard how for outdoor shoots, productions try to avoid taking women citing safety concerns. This hampers opportunities for women.”
Genres have genders?
We have more women-centric stories on screen, and more women screenwriters. While that is a reason for celebration, the discrimination is evident in the smallest things, says Pandit, who has written the dialogues of 2023 Marathi film Unaad. “Female writers aren’t even offered horror or stories with ‘angry-young-man’ characters. They come to women writers for female-centric stories. The mindset is still that women are better at writing slice-of-life stories. she rues, adding that there are also times when producers hire a female writer only for tokenism. “I have seen cases where even for a female-centric story, they will hire men and just one woman just to show diversity in the writer’s room.”
A female writer’s fight is not just for rightful inclusion, but also to be heard. Pandit shares how creative heads often favour the opinion of a male writer over his female counterpart, even if the latter holds expertise over the subject.
“No matter if I am more experienced than my male contemporary or I have more personal experience of the subject that the story revolves around, if a man is speaking in a meeting, his opinion gets more weightage than what I say. Because, unfortunately, internalised patriarchy is also an issue, I have seen that even if there’s a female creative producer in a meeting, she will pay more heed to my male co-writer or male director. In one such case, where my co-writer didn’t have such a mindset, I found a solution to get my point across. I would tell him, ‘You share my idea, because it will get approved if you say it. It won’t if I share it.’ This really bothers me. It comes down to how many battles can you fight? You know finally, the credit will be shared by both the writers, so you let go of what happens in a meeting.”
30 women came together to form Indian Women Cinematographers Collective (IWCC) in 2016. It has grown to 200 members today, but Matiyani, its founding member, says there has been much growth in people’s attitude towards hiring female cinematographers. “To get independent work it is still a bit difficult for people who started out after us and the problem remains the same that women have to prove themselves versus people, who would take a chance on a male DoP starting out. That hasn’t changed very much. So whatever the change, that’s not substantial enough.” Picha spells the reason. “People somewhere still have a mindset that men can do better as cinematographers than women because it’s a technical and a physical job.”
The silver lining
There have been positive changes over the last few years. Make-up artist Hrida Advani, whose work includes Sky is Pink (2019) and Mirzapur, notes that production houses now view make-up as an integral part of storytelling, making them feel more included on set. “It has been a long journey from being addressed as ‘parlour wali’ to a ‘professional artist’,” she says.
Stunt artist Geeta Tandon, having a 17-year experience that includes huge productions like Chennai Express, The Family Man and Citadel: Honey Bunny, acknowledges that work for stuntwomen is more than ever, and in a healthy environment. “I have more work than ever and there is more action to do. Female stunt women are taken more seriously now. Earlier there was a notion that men could also do stunts for female actors but now these opportunities are exclusively offered to stunt-women. There is either a vanity van or AC tents for women action staff. If we are in locations like Ladakh, where these things are not possible, we are given rooms with toilets and other facilities. Earlier, when I would be on my period, I used to feel shy to ask for a break to change my sanitary pad. My clothes would get stained, but I would be asked to do one more shot. Now I can ask for breaks, and use the washroom as and when required. This is the best time to be in this profession as more and more women-led actioners are being made.”
Pandit mentions that there’s a shift in the industry culture since the MeToo movement that broke out in 2018 and had many women in Bollywood sharing accounts of sexual harassment at workplace. “There’s a difference between pre and post-MeToo. There’s definitely more awareness, not just from individual men but also from whoever is the final authority, like the producers. They also are watchful about the behaviour of other men on sets. Some comments, which would have been passed as healthy flirting, teasing or pulling someone’s leg aren’t welcomed by the authority. It’s probably just to save themselves. But that’s still a silver lining for the immediate future. So, maybe their mindset hasn’t changed, but they fear accountability so they are careful. There’s certain alertness exhibited by production houses and studios. I have seen people being fired for inappropriate comments. That’s the advantage of corporate culture. It does takes away the agency of creatives, but it makes one legally strong.”
An executive working in the development team of a mid-scale production house, on the condition of anonymity, says having women in leadership position has made a huge difference for working conditions for women in the industry. “We are an all women team, and you can feel the change. There’s more comfort, empathy and understanding. A lot of the issues that my peers face, I don’t because I have women in senior positions.”
But a systemic change is what will cause a permanent shift, believes Bhatia, who still witnesses “clannish” behaviour from men.
“I still worry about the sexually inappropriate conduct that’s placed in a very passive, quiet sort of way from people in power, it could be director, producer or someone lower down the picking order. There are still sexually inappropriate remarks. The clannish behaviour of men on sets concerns me. So, while we talk about sexual harassment, are people understanding what constitutes that? There needs to be a better system to report sexual harassment. We have our contracts that they tell us there won’t be any inappropriate behaviour from any HoD or anyone else. But some orientation sessions are needed for teams. Do we take the 100 people on set and say this is not acceptable or similarly to the post-production team? I have been editing for 20-25 years. In the last two years, after the lovely burst of women in post-production, I am actually noticing a dip in applications. I just gave a shoutout for the staff I needed for a project and I found the ratio skewing towards men. There are hardly any girls applying. I keep asking myself why is that happening. That’s something one needs to think about.”
