Mohanlal and AMMA didn’t save themselves – they had to leave

In the space of two days, all the officials of one of India’s largest actors’ organisations – the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) – have resigned. They had to, because in the days following the publication of the Hema Commission report – which revealed allegations of abuse by female actors and technicians – skeletons of sexual exploitation came out of the closet. One after another, women came out to speak before the expansive microphones of news channels, pointing fingers at prominent male actors, alleging sexual harassment, abuse and assault.

This time, AMMA had little choice but to take action. The whole line of taking “moral responsibility” is nonsense; it seems more like a hasty act to avoid an explanation they owed the audience. Allegations of sexual harassment were leveled against several male actors, including three of the executive members — Siddique, Baburaj and Jayan R. AMMA could no longer play the delaying tactics it is accustomed to, no longer remain indifferent to the allegations, while the world outside received one news after another about its “precious children.”

The AMMA had barely blinked when the biggest sexual abuse case in the industry broke out seven years ago. A female actor was abducted, sexually assaulted and filmed in her car while she was on her way to work in Kochi in February 2017. Her unexpected move to file a police complaint had shocked the industry, which had till then maintained an image of one big happy family.

Few, however, fell for that image, because stories of sexual harassment, casting couch (euphemism for the demand for sexual favors in the film industry) and ‘adjustments’ were always circulating, even when the top people denied them and dismissed them as nasty rumors. They would sound credible, because, admittedly, they were very good at their jobs, as actors.

The first to go this time was Siddique, a senior actor known for his comedy, villainy and a plethora of supporting characters. He had held the coveted position of AMMA general secretary since June and even before that had been the face of the Association for public meetings and press conferences. Even on August 23, four days after the Hema committee report came out, it was Siddique who told the media that AMMA welcomed the report, while he sat with four other, mostly silent, co-actors.

He stopped just short of proposing a toast, but he praised the report in every way he could and promised support for aggrieved women who would like to file complaints. But perhaps it was a premonition that made him say that the AMMA would not “dodge” an actor against whom a complaint has been filed.

Shortly after the press conference, a female actor who had earlier alleged that Siddique had molested her came out publicly and repeated her allegations. When he resigned on the morning of August 25, feeling moral responsibility, he inadvertently set the ball rolling. On August 27, all the committee members – 17 in all, including the six on the board – would follow suit. AMMA’s chairman, superstar Mohanlal, would resign and dissolve the rest of the committee.

AMMA’s problematic positions

When the actor attack case gained traction in 2017, questions were raised about what the AMMA would do about it. Dileep, a celebrated actor who rose from a mimicry artist to a comedy hero, was then named as an accused in the case and accused of being the mastermind behind the attack.

Mammootty, a veteran superstar, briefly announced at the time that he would expel Dileep from AMMA after his arrest. A year later, before the trial had even begun, an AMMA meeting decided to reinstate Dileep. The survivor and three of her friends – Rima Kallingal, Remya Nambeesan and Geetu Mohandas – left the organisation in protest and in pain.

“I am resigning not just because the accused actor has been reinstated by AMMA. Even before that, this actor had spoiled many of my acting opportunities. When I complained about this, AMMA had not taken any action. Now, when such an unfortunate incident happened in my life, the organisation has again tried to protect the accused. I am resigning from the organisation as I have come to understand that there is no point in being a part of it,” the survivor said in a statement.

The three actors who quit with her had formed the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) a year earlier, along with several other women, after her attack. Since then, the WCC has been pushing for rights for women in the industry, including safety, pay equity, basic working conditions like toilet access, and so on. Their meetings with the AMMA have not been fruitful and the back-and-forth, the WCC would say, has simply been disappointing.

A few particularly dramatic months passed as the AMMA stuck with its decision to revoke Dileep’s membership, even after much criticism, including from the Kannada film industry. Ultimately, Dileep had to make do by “graciously” resigning, with AMMA president Mohanlal saying, “We don’t have to suspend him, he has resigned.”

In defense of Mohanlal, Siddique and late actor KPAC Lalitha held a press conference in 2018, defending Dileep and criticizing the WCC. During the meeting, Siddique ridiculed the need for an Internal Committee on film sets, apparently unaware of the law and the POSH Act that mandated it.

The press conference inadvertently prompted two women to take action against alleged abuse they experienced from men in the industry. One woman wrote an email to AMMA describing sexual harassment she experienced in 2006, which went unanswered for six years. The other woman is the complainant in Siddique’s case, who decided to come out in 2019 after watching a replay of the press briefing.

In the years between 2017 and 2019, members of the WCC spoke to the Hema Committee, which was formed as a result of their request to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to look into the issues of women in cinema. While the trial of the actor abuse case was going on, the Hema Committee prepared its report with interviews with people in cinema and submitted it to the government. and the world waited for word from the ministry. The wait went on for four and a half years before the redacted report was released without names or identification details of the accused or the survivors.

The AMMA had a few more chances to redeem itself during these years. In 2022, a sexual abuse case was filed against actor-producer Vijay Babu. Vijay was then holding a position on the executive committee, but the association, as usual, took no action against him even after the newly formed internal committee advised it. Eventually, the members of the IC resigned one after the other, disbanding the only IC the organization had ever had. Vijay Babu too, like Dileep, ‘had to resign’ because the AMMA refused to act.

From its early years – AMMA was founded in 1994 – the organization has shown little favoritism to its women. In a 1994 magazine report now being circulated, news of AMMA’s founding included the names of its officers, with only two women on the list of 40. In the years that followed, controversies erupted over informal bans and diktats from the organization – even a veteran like Thilakan was not spared as he waged war with the membership and lost many opportunities.

In 2018, when protests by Catholic nuns alleging that Bishop Franco had been raped were raging, Mohanlal brushed aside a question about them and reprimanded a reporter for asking the question while he was talking about his charity initiative. On another occasion, when a reporter asked him about the #MeToo movement, Mohanlal remarked that men should have one too. He served as AMMA president on both occasions.

Their open condemnation of women’s movements shows that they don’t even bother to pretend that they care about women’s issues.

However, after the publication of the Hema Commission report, the attitude of those in power began to change. Their tone changed from sarcastic to patient, anger disappeared to surprising calmness in the answers they gave to ‘bullying journalists’. Siddique was as soft as a lamb on 23 August when he spoke to the media about the Hema Commission report. Edavela Babu, the Secretary General before him, was all too polite in his answers to the media’s questions about AMMA, a world away from his earlier superior attitude.

But the nail in the coffin came shortly after the Hema commission report was published, when the floodgates of accusations opened. Politeness or “politically correct behavior” were no longer enough. The old hands, who held power and ruled uncrowned, had to go.

This report is from The News Minute as part of The News Minute-Newslaundry alliance. Read about our partnership and become a subscriber.

Incidentally, the formation of the Hema committee was triggered by the shocking kidnapping and sexual assault of a top actress in Kerala in February 2017. The crime was carried out by a gang of men allegedly hired by superstar Dileep. Read more about the case