Not in the best of relations, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) will on Tuesday meet representatives of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) that has raised a set of issues in Kerala’s film industry.
It’s seen as a move by AMMA functionaries to join party to an ongoing criminal case on the 2017 assault of an actress that has become the most recent point of debate. The actress had told the court that she wasn’t part of AMMA and didn’t seek anyone’s legal help, thus leading to varied opinion among the officials as well as members of the association, currently headed by superstar Mohanlal.
AMMA executive members Rachana Narayanankutty and Honey Rose said it was to support the petition that they sought to become a third party in the lawsuit, wanting the case to be heard by a woman judge.
As the duo filed an impleading petition with the Kerala High Court, the assaulted actress maintained that she could fight the case alone. That led the judges to ask the impleaders about their motive. As the matter is becoming controversial, the AMMA functionaries may dissociate from the case, according to sources.
The new move has obviously divided AMMA into two. The impleading petition, many say, was a move by the association to pretend that it stood with the victim. Rumours are rife that AMMA had initially sought to file before the Kerala chief minister a memorandum undersigned by Mohanlal, wanting a woman judge to handle the actress assault case, and that a rival faction went on to torpedo it.
It was when that move thus failed that AMMA saw two of its functionaries trying to become party to the assault case. It had the permission from Mohanlal, but that went useless as the victim refused the impleaders’ support.
It was when the WCC came out in the open against AMMA’s decision to take back actor Dileep, who is an accused in the assault case, that the issue took a turn for the worse. Under pressure, AMMA agreed to hold a dialogue with WCC, formed in November last year to address the issue of women artistes in Malayalam film industry and resolve them.