The honour is for the article, 'If you are done hating the Malayalam film industry, learn from its women', published on 28 August 2024.
Published Nov 25, 2025 | 4:19 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 25, 2025 | 4:21 PM
Anusha Ravi Sood's article urged film industries to "smash patriarchy, question misogyny, stand up for what is right and get down to fixing a system that is designed to break, abuse, harass and discard women".
Synopsis: Appreciating the sensitivity and insight reflected in Sood’s article, the jury noted that the story “stood out for its nuanced engagement with gender concerns and for widening the space for more inclusive media narratives”.
South First‘s Editor Anusha Ravi Sood has won a jury award at the Laadli Media & Advertising Awards 2025 for her article, If you are done hating the Malayalam film industry, learn from its women.
The article, which exhorted film industries outside Kerala to stand up and speak for women in cinema, was selected for the Jury Appreciation Citation in the Web – Op-ed category for English language.
Appreciating the sensitivity and insight reflected in Sood’s article, the jury noted that the story “stood out for its nuanced engagement with gender concerns and for widening the space for more inclusive media narratives”.
The article, which appeared on 28 August 2024 in the wake of the publication of a redacted version of the Hema Committee report, urged various Indian language film industries to “smash patriarchy, question misogyny, stand up for what is right and get down to fixing a system that is designed to break, abuse, harass and discard women”.
The Hema Committee report delved deep into wage discrimination and sexual exploitation, exposing the hidden harassment in the Malayalam film industry. It also revealed the casting couch culture and the silent suffering of women in cinema.
The committee was constituted following the abduction and sexual harassment of a female actor in a moving car in Kochi on 17 February 2017. The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court is set to pronounce its verdict in the case on 9 December 2025.
Sood’s article noted that ever since “the Hema Committee report threw light on the sexual abuse of women in Malayalam cinema, a section of fellow Indians, who love to hate Kerala, have found new reasons. The Malayalam film industry (aka Mollywood) is the new punching bag for the ‘Hate Kerala’ campaigners”.
She further pointed out that the haters were forgetting it was people from the same industry (Mollywood) who made the Hema Committee Report possible.
“The women in the Malayalam film industry have exposed the rot in the system. The Malayalam film industry’s women are giving strength to more survivors to speak up. Women in the Malayalam film industry are holding their male counterparts accountable. It is women in the Malayalam film industry who have started a clean-up process. Women from the Malayalam film industry are fixing their home. The Malayalam film industry’s women are pushing for safer workplaces, equal pay, right to dignity and livelihood for all,” the article said.
Laadli also appreciated G Vasu, Founder and CEO, South First, for “encouraging and supporting gender-sensitive journalism within the newsroom”.
Laadli, the media advocacy campaign of Population First, has been giving the Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity since 2007.
The Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of individuals and organisations in the media and advertising industry who, through their work, highlight gender concerns.
