By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A confrontationist ambience is building up in the Malayalam film world with the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) and the Women’s Collective in Cinema (WCC) set on the path of a showdown.
The bone of contention: the reinstatement of actor Dileep, who is an accused in a case of sexual assault and kidnapping of a woman actor.
Tension has flared up with the WCC serving an ultimatum over the failure of the AMMA to act against Dileep, who has been accused of planning an attack on the actress in February last year. WCC is unhappy over the AMMA’s failure to initiate action within 10 days, promised in August last year, on WCC’s demands.
The crisis has also caused a sharp divide within AMMA, with secretary Siddique and treasurer Jagdeesh taking contradictory stances.
While Jagdeesh has issued a statement – he says with president Mohanlal’s approval – that an early general body meeting would be held to discuss the sensitive issue, Siddique, on the contrary, said the general body would meet only in June next year. Jagdeesh’s remark that a decision based on justice and above all the rules governing the general body meeting had raised hopes of the WCC of an amicable solution.
But Siddique has dashed the hopes of the WCC members by ruling out an early GB meeting. The Jagdeesh statement came after the WCC accused AMMA of siding with the accused instead of standing by the actress victim.
Both Siddique and KPAC Lalitha, a senior actor, upped the ante by demanding that the WCC members who had criticised AMMA president Mohanlal for taking what they called an ‘anti-women attitude’ in the matter tender an unconditional apology. The WCC members have, of course, rejected the demand promptly, claiming that they have done nothing to warrant an apology.
Hopes of a compromise had also been raised with Kerala Culture Minister AK Balan urging Mohanlal to address the concerns aired by the WCC in a time-bound manner. Balan’s thinly-veiled warning had a sobering effect on the AMMA leadership, which had hardened its stance. What Balan left unsaid was that if the leadership failed to act, the government could intervene – a gesture that showed it pro-WCC stance.
The contradictory stand taken by Jagdeesh and Siddique bares the deepening differences within the AMMA itself.
The WCC has also hinted at tougher action by threatening to make MeToo-type revelations against the male actors. Some WCC members believe that the Malayalam film industry is littered with instances of sexual harassment of female actors who have not come out with their stories of harassment so far. The veil of silence could just disappear if the AMMA leadership fails to shed its intransigent attitude.
Whatever the denouement, one thing has become evident. The women actors are no longer in a mood to put up with the patriarchal and misogynistic attitude of the AMMA. The days of male domination are over, and it is time for a welcome change. The earlier the changes are ushered in, the better. Otherwise, coming days could witness a deepening of the differences between the AMMA and the WCC.
NB: A wag’s comment: AMMA should be renamed Appallingly Misogynistic Male-dominated Association! (IPA Service)
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