AMMA mired in infighting, considers women as showpieces: WCC

Kochi: Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) has condemned the contradictory stand adopted by the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) on sexual harassment of women even as the #MeToo movement was raging across the world.

“Infighting in AMMA and their attitude of considering women as decorative pieces are unfortunate. We strongly protest against AMMA’s indifference to the incidents of harassment and exploitation of women in Malayalam movie industry,” said WCC in a Facebook post.

The collective, formed by a group of women movie artists, said it welcomed AMMA’s statement that actor Dileep was no longer a member of the association. “However, we are sad that the AMMA executive committee desisted from acting according to its bylaw,” said the post.

WCC added that AMMA was ignoring the fact that a fellow actress who had survived a brutal sexual attack and three other actresses had been forced to quit the association as the executive committee had shown clear partiality over the issue.

“We also hail actresses Divya Gopinath, Sreedevika and Sruthi Hariharan over the courage they showed in speaking up against the harassment they suffered. Our support will be with them in their fight for justice,” added the post.

AMMA president Mohanlal had told the media recently that Dileep had resigned from the body. Dileep’s resignation was sought based on WCC’s demand, he added.

According to Mohanlal, the actresses who had resigned from AMMA could return to the body, but they had to follow the procedures in this regard. “The actresses can come back to AMMA without an apology, but they need to follow some procedures,” said Mohanlal.