Sona Abraham was a teenager when she acted in a rape scene for a 2013 Malayalam film. Abraham and her family were shocked when the raw footage later surfaced online including on porn websites. They ran pillar to post to take them down and hold those responsible for the leak accountable. This is Sona’s story, which she shared as part of the Women in Cinema Collective’s ongoing “Refuse the Abuse” campaign.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I studied in class 11th. After a few days, the scenes we shot for that movie
00:06were circulated on public platforms, YouTube channels, YouTube websites, and many porn websites.
00:13Even today, when I walk through the streets,
00:16Are you still alive? Have you still lived here?
00:20Why do you live like this? Why do you live with such shame?
00:23Hatred and all those online abuses that have been happening to me since the last 5 or 6 years.
00:30But I didn't come here to tell you all this.
00:34This is just a back story.
00:39Namaskaram. My name is Sona.
00:41I am a 5th year law student.
00:44Today, I am doing this video to reveal something that I don't want to discuss in front of my parents or my friends.
01:01When I was 14 years old, I was involved in a movie when I was in 10th grade.
01:06The name of the movie was For Sale.
01:08The director's name was Satheesh Anandapuri.
01:12The producer's name was Anthropodaville.
01:19If I think back to that movie, what was the scope of that movie,
01:23I am very much afraid that I acted in such a movie.
01:29Because it was a movie that glorified women's hatred, women's abuse and lust.
01:40In the movie, the heroine, who committed suicide after seeing her sister being destroyed,
01:51was played by the actress named Kadal Sandhya.
01:55Fortunately, I was the sister in that movie.
01:58But I was the one who ended up committing suicide in my own life.
02:02But I didn't commit suicide.
02:04I am still alive.
02:06I am talking to you now as proof of that.
02:10To reveal such a situation in the movie,
02:13the directors of that movie asked me to shoot such a video.
02:26I was 14 years old at that time.
02:28I was a small girl.
02:29I agreed to shoot that scene with a set of about 150 people.
02:36They told me that it was not comfortable at all.
02:39I was a small girl.
02:40I didn't know what to decide.
02:42I didn't know what kind of movie I was acting in.
02:45I didn't know what kind of scene I was acting in.
02:47I didn't know what my dialogue was.
02:48I didn't know what I was saying to that dialogue through that dialogue.
02:52I didn't even have the basic common sense to understand that.
02:59We shot that scene in the director's office.
03:03My parents were also there.
03:05Only a few of the directors of that movie shot that scene.
03:09After the movie, I returned to my normal life with my 10th grade board exam.
03:15I studied in the 11th grade.
03:17After a few days, the scenes we shot for that movie
03:21started spreading on public platforms, YouTube channels, YouTube websites,
03:25and many porn websites.
03:28In many ways, in many names,
03:31in many titles,
03:33my family is a very lower middle class family.
03:37Everyone can understand that.
03:39I don't know how many people can understand that.
03:41But I can understand it very well.
03:44I am a victim of that.
03:46For so many years,
03:48along with that,
03:49friends,
03:51relatives,
03:52as well as,
03:54why should I say more?
03:55teachers.
03:57Many people look at me with doubt in many ways.
04:04That's what I've seen so far.
04:08Because I had that experience,
04:10when I hear the word cinema,
04:12my own daughter,
04:14my family loves me very much.
04:16They love me very much.
04:18They believe in my talent.
04:20Why should I say more?
04:22They are afraid when they hear the word cinema.
04:24All these years,
04:26from the society,
04:28from all walks of life,
04:30the words that hurt me the most,
04:32the harsh words.
04:34Even today, when I walk on the road,
04:38Are you still alive?
04:40Have you still lived here?
04:42Why do you live?
04:44Why do you live with such shame?
04:46Or did something happen to me?
04:48People look at me as if I have something missing.
04:50Why should I say more?
04:52Many people have hurt me like them.
04:54But,
04:56I want to tell you all,
04:58I am still alive.
05:00And,
05:02I don't think I have lost anything that I don't know about.
05:08But,
05:10you are more sad than me.
05:12That is,
05:14you have lost something that you have not lost.
05:16Or,
05:18you have something missing.
05:20I am a law student.
05:22Let me stand there and tell you.
05:24I approached all the law institutions and my family.
05:26But,
05:28until today,
05:30I have not received a positive response to it.
05:32Today,
05:34in the Kerala society,
05:36against women,
05:38now,
05:40how the society here responds to women
05:42who are against this
05:44vicious YouTuber called Vijay P. Nair.
05:46Seeing that,
05:48last week,
05:50I was so scared.
05:52I couldn't sleep.
05:54But,
05:56in that situation,
05:58I am talking to you with that fear.
06:00But, I can't keep quiet.
06:02Because, I will be deceiving my conscience.
06:04All the law institutions,
06:06all the cyber cell police,
06:08ADGP,
06:10DGP,
06:12even the oldest police officers,
06:14have received complaints.
06:16But,
06:18until today,
06:20we have not received any response.
06:22Even the case has not become strong.
06:24The videos that are accessed only by the producer,
06:26director, and editor,
06:28how they got leaked
06:30in the public platforms,
06:32in the public channels,
06:34they have not been able to answer even the basic questions.
06:36Even now,
06:38there is a Harjinder in the High Court.
06:40But, there is no response to that.
06:42But, I am used to that.
06:44I am living with that.
06:46Bearing all those criticisms,
06:48all those,
06:50you know,
06:52hatred,
06:54and all those online abuses that have been happening to me
06:56since the last 5 or 6 years.
06:58But,
07:00I am not here to talk about that.
07:02I am just sharing a back story.
07:06Today,
07:08we are witnessing
07:10the abuse,
07:12and all those online abusers
07:14are mentally retarded people.
07:16It is their birthright
07:18that they are
07:20abusing us.
07:22They don't know us.
07:24They don't know our parents.
07:26They don't know our situation.
07:28But, they are their birthright.
07:30They are the police officers
07:32who are protecting this society.
07:34We are all
07:36poor people.
07:38But,
07:40we have something
07:42that they can't lose.
07:44Or else,
07:46their judgments
07:48are coming out
07:50because of our
07:51misbehaviour.
07:52The art of cinema,
07:54the medium of cinema,
07:56is such a great medium.
07:58It is a medium that
08:00shows people's respect
08:02and appreciation.
08:04It is a medium that needs to be acquired.
08:06But, who made it impossible?
08:08Yesterday,
08:10Parvathy,
08:12an actress,
08:14came to Rajyogetan.
08:16I am very proud of her.
08:20She came to Rajyogetan
08:22to talk about
08:24her sister,
08:26Idavela Babu.
08:28I don't know if he is the president
08:30or not.
08:32He is the president.
08:34People like us
08:36created such a bad name for cinema.
08:38You made the society
08:40understand that women
08:42are a commodity.
08:44The patriarchal men
08:46who make art a commodity
08:48and women a business
08:50aspect
08:52of cinema
08:54created
08:56such a bad name
08:58for our cinema.
09:00If a girl
09:02comes to cinema,
09:04they are all bad people.
09:06They are all
09:08commodities for sale.
09:10I want to say
09:12to this patriarchal society
09:14that
09:16I am not afraid of you.
09:18I have been
09:20getting online abuses
09:22for 6-7 years.
09:24I have been
09:26becoming
09:28weaker
09:30and stronger
09:32as a person.
09:38I have developed as a person.
09:42I am still talking
09:44from a depressed stage.
09:46I am not fully recovered.
09:48But
09:50these online abuses
09:52I know that
09:54this is not
09:56just one incident
09:58that is happening to me.
10:00Everybody is going
10:02through this.
10:04I want to say
10:06to all the people
10:08who judge me
10:10and comment on my photos.
10:12We are not afraid of you.
10:14You have overcome
10:16such abuses
10:18and victimized
10:20me.
10:22I stand by
10:24all the women
10:26who are fighting this.
10:28This is a form of self-motivation
10:30that I am doing right now.
10:32I didn't have the courage
10:34to say this.
10:36Though I am saying that
10:38I am not afraid of anything,
10:40I am very much afraid of many things.
10:42I don't know. I have nothing to lose
10:44as of now.
10:46But I am not sure
10:48what to do.
10:54But
10:56refuse the abuse.
10:58Thank you so much.