June 27, 2018, will hereafter be known as a day of revolution. In an extraordinary act, which would have been accompanied by a thrilling background score in movies, four actors – Bhavana, Rima Kallingal, Remya Nambeesan and Geethu Mohandas – quit the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), in protest against the inclusion of Dileep, an accused in the abduction and assault of a woman actor, who, like him, was a member of the outfit.
In a series of dramatic incidents that unveiled after more than a year following the assault on the actor and the arrest of Dileep, the AMMA decided to ‘unanimously’ reinstate the star into the organisation. The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) was quick to respond with a Facebook post questioning the logic of the decision, which was met with zero response from the AMMA or its newly-elected president Mohanlal. While most of the industry insiders remain tight-lipped on the matter, a few choose to air their views, declaring their allegiance to the women who chose to revolt.
Waiting for AMMA’s note
WCC member and scriptwriter Deedi Damodaran rules out any split in the Collective. "These resignations are personal decisions of the actresses who chose to announce their solidarity with the survivor, who first quit the AMMA. It's not an organisational decision by the WCC because ours is a democratic platform and everyone is free to go by their decisions," she says.
She also stresses there wouldn't be more immediate resignations by woman actors from the AMMA. "There are WCC members who feel they need a clarification from the AMMA on why they chose to re-induct the accused into the parental organisation. If they quit, we will lose a platform for discussion with the AMMA. So, once they get a convincing explanation, further decisions will be made," she says, adding that they are expecting a written explanation from the AMMA on the matter.
