The single biggest point on which the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists is trolled online has been its acronym--AMMA. Every time this actors’ body falls into some controversy, its critics ask the organisation to change its name, which means mother in Malayalam. The irony of AMMA being a group of powerful men calling itself 'mother' is not lost on even the online troll. Now, as leaders of the organisation are hit one after the other in the Me Too wave of sexual harassment allegations, social media is revelling in the heightened irony.
AMMA was formed in 1994 and registered under the Travancore Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act. Its mode of formation and bylaws make it clear that AMMA is not a trade union--it is an organisation that takes care of “the welfare” of actors as a charity. The monthly allowance being given to members in need is the most celebrated charitable action of the organisation. According to its website, 117 members have been receiving Rs.5,000 as monthly allowance. The organisation also conducts stage shows to mobilise funds.
The recent Hema Committee report on sexual harassment and other issues in Malayalam cinema refers to the existence of a power group within the industry, which was dismissed promptly by the men at the top in AMMA. However, the allegation that AMMA is an organisation of powerful men in the industry holds water. In the first executive committee formed in 1994, there were 17 members including one woman. From the information available on the website, it is clear that not even in a single three-year term of the executive committee till date has the number of women members exceeded three. Besides this, the women who get entry into the executive have often been actors who are not active in the industry, with very few exceptions. For instance, Cuckoo Parameswaran who has been a member since 2006 to 2018 has not been active in the industry for over three decades. The voices of women have not been heard representing the organisation. In press conferences and public programmes, it is the leading male actors who are office bearers of the organisation speking on behalf of the organisation and the industry.
Mohanlal has been an executive member of AMMA since its beginning in 1994 till his resignation on August 27, barring 1997-2000. Ganesh Kumar, actor and a minister in the current LDF government in Kerala was also a fixture on the executive committee till 2021. Idavela Babu who has been on the committee since 2000, was elevated to the position of secretary in 2009 and general secretary in 2018, a position that he relinquished two months back and which was taken over by Siddique. The short list of executive committee members over the years gives a picture of the handful of actors who have controlled AMMA and thus have been the power centre in Malayalam cinema.
AMMA is notorious for “banning” actors, directors and technicians. The first voice of dissent was that of Thilakan, a senior actor and Padma Shri awardee who has won the national award three times and the state award nine times. Thilakan, who had acted in more than 250 films over four decades, from 1970 till 2012, openly raised the allegation that “a powerful lobby” in AMMA had tried to sideline him and imposed an unofficial ban on him. He alleged that the ban originally came from FEFKA (Film Employees Federation of Kerala), another powerful body of technicians including directors and writers in the industry that goes hand in hand with AMMA. The conflict allegedly started over Thilakan's association with Vinayan, a director who ran a rival organisation, MACTA. Following the “ban” Thilakan was allegedly eschewed from a few films for which he was originally cast.
The culture of banning artists has existed in Malayalam cinema for quite some time, albeit discreetly since the emergence of social media. Despite claiming to be an organisation that stands for the welfare of actors, AMMA has never spoken against the banning culture and has never taken a step to put an end to the same. The Hema Committee found that even prominent actors “were unauthorisedly banned for a considerable length of time”. Banning was used as a tool to silence women often, says the Hema Committee report, which discusses this under a separate head itself as ‘ban in cinema’.
The unhealthy practices nurtured by AMMA led to the Competition Commission of India imposing fines for anti-competitive practices totalling Rs 11.25 lakh in 2017 on AMMA, FEFKA, two of its sub-unions and some individuals associated with them based on a complaint raised by Vinayan, the director. CCI found that FEFKA and AMMA tried to force various actors, technicians, producers, and financers not to work or associate with the complainant over his efforts to streamline working conditions of artists and for the initiative of ‘Cinema Forum’, a platform to produce budget movies. CCI found that due to the ban imposed by FEFKA and AMMA on Vinayan, many artists and technicians were not able to work with him.
The unquestioned authority of AMMA was challenged again in 2017 by a group of women following the shocking abduction and sexual assault on a female actor. Though AMMA organised a candlelight vigil in protest against the attack, the organisation tightened its lips after the allegations of conspiracy behind the incident came up. The arrest of actor Dileep, who had been very powerful in AMMA and the in the industry in general, shook the organisation. A press conference convened by AMMA in June, 2017 turned into an open conflict with the journalists. Leaders including Mukesh and Ganesh Kumar, shouted at the reporters who raised questions about Dileep’s involvement in the incident while Mammootty and Mohanlal remained tight lipped. The organisation visibly failed in taking a stand against Dileep, who had been interrogated by the police the previous day. AMMA cut a sorry figure before the public with its statement that they support both Dileep and the actress who was assaulted equally. “We will support the victim and we will pray for Dileep” became a catchphrase on social media to refer to double standards in general.
The group of women who stood with the assaulted actress banded together to form the Women in Cinema Collective, the rise of which has changed the course of the industry. For the first time, Malayalam cinema heard a collective voice of dissent against the powers that be. Till then, only a few individuals had expressed differences with AMMA like Thilakan, his son Shammy Thilakan and director Vinayan. Even younger male superstars who were quite unhappy with AMMA did not dare challenge AMMA’s authority.
AMMA expelled Dileep a day after his arrest July 10, 2017. However, they reinstated him in June 2018 when he came out on bail. The WCC members who were also members of AMMA--Ramya Nambeesan, Rima Kallingal and Geetu Mohandas--openly expressed their dissent and ended their association with AMMA. The actress who was abducted and assaulted also relinquished her membership stating that she had lost faith in the organisation. Interestingly, none of the male actors who expressed solidarity with the survivor followed suit. It has become the lone battle of women in Malayalam cinema.
AMMA has never addressed earlier allegations of sexual assault against its members as well. Vijay Babu, an actor and producer, was booked on rape charges alleged by a new artist. Despite a chargesheet being submitted, AMMA took no action against him.
Parvathy Thiruvoth, a vibrant voice in the WCC, ended her association with AMMA two year later in protest against a statement by Idavela Babu, the then general secretary of AMMA. During a media interview, when Babu was asked whether the survivor actor would be given a role in a film which AMMA was planning to produce, he said: “She is not a member of AMMA anymore, we cannot bring back the dead”. This statement invited widespread public wrath against AMMA. Parvathy declared her resignation on Facebook stating that she had decided to continue in AMMA even when her colleagues quit, hoping that she could fight a battle within the organisation. However, the statement of Edavela Babu made it clear that AMMA would never change its attitude to women, she said. “Comparing a woman who faced heinous sexual assault and who was let down by AMMA, to a dead person is beyond correction. It shows his nauseating attitude, and I pity him” she said in her note.
WCC’s representation to the Chief Minister demanding a comprehensive study on the problems being faced by women in cinema led to the formation of the Hema Committee. Now, when the committee’s report came out after nearly five years, it triggered a wave of allegations of abuse, leading to the entire executive committee of AMMA stepping down. Mohanlal and Mammootty, the superstars of Malayalam cinema have not yet uttered a word about the storm that has been happening in the industry.
WCC members also had to face ‘bans’ since 2017, when the organisation was formed. They got offers from other south Indian language fil industries such as Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, but were kept away from the Malayalam industry.
It is evident that the fight taken up by WCC was not the fight of the women in cinema alone. The feminist groups in Kerala have declared their support to WCC and representations demanding stringent action against the predators, signed by hundreds of women, have flooded the government. The demand for the resignation of Mukesh, a sitting MLA of LDF against whom a series of sexual allegations have come out, has intensified.
Sandhya K P, a young journalist, put this on her Facebook page: “When I interviewed Edavela Badu years ago, I asked him about the battle being fought by WCC. He belittled WCC by asking me back whether WCC existed anymore. Now I want to ask him whether AMMA does exist anymore.” The emotions expressed by women in social media undoubtedly makes it clear that WCC’s battle is not one of their own.
