Veteran actor Mohanlal was elected as president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) for the third time, at its meeting held in Kochi on Wednesday. Though Mohanlal will continue as president, there will be a change in the other key positions within the actors' body.
Actors Kukku Parameshwaram, Anoop Chandran and Jayan Cherthala had initially submitted their nominations for the post of president. However, they later withdrew their names and decided to contest in other key positions.
Jayan Cherthala told Manorama News that they had decided to contest for the president's post since Mohanlal had earlier expressed his desire to step down from the last council. “We did not realise that Mohanlal was contesting this term, which is why we decided to submit our nominations and contest against each other. We withdrew our names soon after we learnt he will be in the fray this term too,” he said.
Idavela Babu, who has served as AMMA's general secretary for several years now, will resign and a new general secretary will be elected during the general body meeting, which will be held on June 30.
Actors Siddique, Kukku Parameshwaram and Unni Sivapal will contest for the post. Jagadish, Jayan Cherthala and Manju Pillai, meanwhile, are in the fray for the post of AMMA vice-president. Actors Shwetha Menon and Maniyanpillai Raju hold the posts currently.