15 women actors slam AMMA's stand on Dileep

As pressure mounts on the AMMA to reconsider its move to reinstate actor Dileep, eighth accused in a case of abduction and sexual assault of an actress, 15 women actors have hit out at the association over its stand on the issue.

The actors, all members of Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), issued a statement on Sunday listing their reasons for having decided against being part of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA).

Members of WCC have continued to protest AMMA’s decision and the dissidence peaked last week when four of its members — including the assaulted actress — resigned from the AMMA. The 15 woman actors including Amala Akkineni, Ranjini Pierre and Sajitha Madathil have been working in the Malayalam film industry without being members of AMMA and said they intended to continue their dissociation with the actors’ body.

The actors said they’ve realised that AMMA’s decisions regarding workplace safety could not be “wholly trusted”, in the wake of its stand on the sexual assault case. They cited the apathy shown by the AMMA toward concerns raised by WCC members, its failure in initiating healthy, ideological discussions and its undemocratic way of functioning among reasons behind their decision. “Collecting a membership fee of about Rs 1 lakh is undemocratic in an industry that doesn’t even have a concept of equal pay,” they said in the statement posted on WCC’s Facebook page.

According to the prosecution, Dileep hired the prime accused in the case — Sunilkumar aka ‘Pulsar’ Suni — who abducted and sexually assaulted the actress in a moving car in Kochi, in February 2017.

Ministers in the CPM-led state government and the Kerala Women’s Commission have backed the women actors’ rebellion that has also found immense support on social media.

Last week, the WCC also called for an emergency executive general body meeting of AMMA to discuss issues in connection with the reinstatement of Dileep. Dileep has stated that he would not be part of the association before his innocence was proved in the court.

Actor Mohanlal, the new president of AMMA, on Saturday issued a statement from London expressing a willingness to initiate talks with the dissidents.