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Fissures in movie artists’ body over judicial report
Fissures emerged within the AMMA in the wake of the release of the Hema committee report on the plight of women in the Malayalam film industry.
Fissures emerged within the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), a key actors’ body, on Friday in the wake of the release of the Hema committee report on the plight of women in the Malayalam film industry.
At a press conference in Kochi, actor Siddique explained the body’s position on the Hema committee report which has narrated incidents of sexual harassment and abuse faced by women in the industry. The response came five days after the release of the report amid allegations that the actors’ body did not take the report seriously and was trying to protect the unnamed abusers mentioned in the report.
“When the report was made public, we were in the middle of rehearsals of a stage show. That’s why we didn’t get the time to read the report and explain our position. There was no other reason for the delay on our response,” Siddique said.
“We welcome this report and the recommendations it has made. We want the state government to implement them as they can only improve the conditions in the film industry. If women have faced sexual harassment, the police must file FIRs and investigate them. AMMA will not protect the abusers,” the actor said.
He further said that the report is not against AMMA or its activities as is being portrayed in sections of the media. He also denied the existence of a “power group” within the industry, as was mentioned in the Hema committee report.
“How can the industry function if there is a ‘power group’ that dictates who can act or not? The success of a film decides the success of an actor based on the verdict of the audience. I don’t know this so-called power group who decides everything,” the general secretary said, adding that most of the members of AMMA were never consulted by the committee headed by retired justice K Hema.
Siddique also said that there were only a few “isolated incidents” in the industry. “On the basis of one or two isolated incidents, generalising and demeaning AMMA and the industry as a whole is not right,” he said.
At the same time, AMMA vice-president and actor Jagadish said: “I personally apologise for the delay in the response of AMMA to the report. We should have reacted earlier. We were preparing for a stage show, but that’s no excuse to defer explaining our position on the report.”
In response to Siddique’s ‘isolated incidents’ remark, he said: “If the Hema committee has stated that women have faced harassment and that there were knocks by men on the doors of the hotel rooms they stayed in, we shouldn’t be asking whose door was knocked. If an actor has made such an allegation, it must be investigated. It’s not right to say that these are isolated incidents and run away.”
AMMA is expected to convene its executive committee soon to discuss the way forward on acting on the recommendations of the Hema committee report, according to people familiar with the matter.
