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MeToo: In defence of actor Dileep, AMMA attacks Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan
Actor and secretary of AMMA Siddique slammed Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan for refusing to work with aritstes based on allegations.
In yet another attempt to shield actor Dileep, accused in the Malayalam actress assault case, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) has attacked Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan who refused to work with those accused of sexual assault and harassment. On Saturday, Women in Cinema Collective had accused the organisation of being biased towards the victim of sexual harassment and defending Dileep by giving him further opportunities to work in the film industry.
On Monday, in a press meet called by AMMA, secretary Siddique slammed Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan of refusing to work in projects because they include people accused of harassment. Siddiqui said, “They wanted Dileep banned from movies. Who has the rights to deny a person his profession based on allegations? They gave examples of Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan. They said the actors decided to walk out of movies. But what Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan did was wrong. How could they do so based on allegations?”
He further added, “Let’s say, on the other hand, if Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan were accused of sexual harassment, do you think they would have walked out of the said projects?” Siddiqui also said that they will not follow Bollywood’s lead and said, “We will not accept that (Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan quitting films) as an example and deny Dileep job opportunities.”
His response came after WCC had pointed out how Bollywood’s reaction to #MeToo movement was at odds with what Malayalam industry was doing. Actor Rima Kallingal had said at the Saturday meet, “Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao stepped away from a film, saying they did not want to work with someone who has been accused. Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) dropped Rajat Kapoor’s film (Kadakh), Amazon Prime Video terminated the deal with AIB for existing and upcoming shows. Akshay Kumar stopped the shoot of Sajid Khan’s Housefull 4; the production house Phantom Films was dismantled when there were allegations against one of its four founders. But look what is happening in our industry. Soon after Dileep was released, B Unnikrishnan announced a movie with him.”
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