They say the mistakes committed by housemaids can be rectified through the law and the courts and police, not by beating and suppressing them.

Today, the issue has been picked up by cinema world. The brutal aggression against housemaids has become the theme of an Indian movie called “Gaddama,” which tells the story of an Indian housemaid working in Saudi Arabia and who is tortured by her employers.

Indian actress Kavya Madhavan, who played the role of the housemaid, said she was deeply affected by the role to the point of depression. She said it was difficult to obtain a license to shoot the film in Saudi Arabia, so many scenes were filmed in the United Arab Emirates.

The film took the same name we give to a housemaid, which is Gaddama (Khaddama).  Actors from Egypt and Indonesia were to act in the film.

I am not for the film or against it. At the same time, I do not consider it a conspiracy to defame our Arab Gulf societies. However, I believe that we should look at our faces in the mirrors of others. This is exactly what Indian cinema is doing for us through its focus on the Gulf household. Most of the time, the housemaid who comes to work for us is treated inhumanly. This maltreatment starts with the employer confiscating her passport and preventing her taking weekly off days.

The crimes committed against housemaids are everywhere, but in our countries they have become a phenomenon. It is very rare to find a housemaid who is treated as part of the household and not as a machine that washes and cooks.

We have obese people with protruding tummies who cannot even bring a cup of water for themselves, and they want the housemaid to do everything for them.

It is premature to give an opinion about the film but I can say that the housemaids who work in our country will go back to their homes knowing everything about us.

Though our houses are closed with cement walls, the housemaids know all our secrets. They understand the Saudi and Arab Gulf societies in detail. Here lies the danger of this film and other similar films. They may draw a picture which we may not like, but it should be an eye-opener for us.

(www.turkid.net)