editing script and lyrics revealed a dearth of female talent where less than 5 of the crew membersbe it in womencentric films 41 or box office toppers 234are women curiously there are no women in lighting and spot teams and the gender segregation is glaringly evident within the unions too with one union within federation of western india cine employees for female junior artists and eight unions exclusively for men beyond gender age and caste disparities also pervade the industry if characters predominantly fall within the 2145 age group the study revealed that uppercaste hindus dominate the cinematic landscape the representation of characters with disabilities remains dishearteningly low who constitute a mere 05 of characters and their roles tend to elicit sympathy or humour gender equality cannot be achieved unless you address other social inequalities added lingam calling upon the central and state governments producers guilds unions and industry associations to spearhead change there has to be greater government and industry collaborations for schemes supporting womenled narratives scholarships for women students and posh committeesgender bias and inequality in the film industry are not unique to indias bollywood but also prevalent in hollywood and the us pointed out mike hankey us consul general in mumbai explaining the consulates support for the research it holds profound implications for international relations when we foster an inclusive industry we create fertile ground for collaboration coproduction and economic exchange he said