Women in Cinema Collective terms en masse resignation of AMMA executive committee ‘an act of cowardice’

Women’s Collective in Cinema criticizes AMMA for resignations, calls for accountability and change in Malayalam film industry.

The Women’s Collective in Cinema (WCC), an advocacy group that champions women’s rights and equality of sexes in the Malayalam entertainment industry, has termed the en masse resignation of 17 executive committee members of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), including its president Mohanlal, “an act of cowardice.”

Speaking to a YouTube channel, award-winning actor and WCC member Parvathy Thiruvothu said: “How cowardly of them to step away from a position where they are now accountable to speak to the media.”

Ms. Parvathy said, ideally, the AMMA executive committee should have set an example by working with the Kerala government and other stakeholders to chart a course forward. Instead, she said, the onus has again fallen on women in the industry to take the conversations and debates forward. 

Ms. Parvathy pointed out that the “same AMMA office-bearers” had welcomed an accused actor (charged with contracting hirlings to sexually assault a colleague in the film industry in 2016) back into the organisation’s fold.

Moreover, Ms. Parvathy said, the AMMA committee was in denial mode till one woman after another emerged on social and mainstream media to testify to the atmosphere of fear, authoritarianism and entrenched sexual exploitation in the Malayalam film industry. 

Ms. Parvathy said society was now seeing those at the apex of the Malayalam movie industry for “who they are.” She hoped that the new leadership would take AMMA down a more benign and welfare-oriented path.