Male Fort Crumbles Before Women Fire in Mollywood

AMMA stands for the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists in Kerala. In its three-decade history, it has always been men’s fort, led by male office-bearers. On the 78th anniversary of Independence, AMMA created history. On Friday, it gained ‘independence’ from male domination as female artistes were elected as its top office-bearers.

Yes, “AMMA has become a woman now,” as Shweta Menon, a renowned actor, said after being elected as its president.

Of the top six office-bearers, four are women – Apart from Shweta Menon, the other women are Kuku Parameswaran (general secretary); Lakshmi Priya (one of the two vice-presidents); and Ansiba Hassan (elected unopposed as joint secretary). The two men who managed to find a place in the top slots are Unni Shivapal (Treasurer) and Jayan Cherthala (one of the vice-presidents). Among the 11-member executive committee also four are women.

The election of AMMA’s office-bearers has never been as keenly contested as this time. It has a background: Superstar Mohanlal, its three-time president starting from 2018, resigned in 2024 without completing his third three-year term in the wake of growing allegations of sexual abuse in the Malayalam film industry. Though Mollywood had witnessed such allegations previously, the flash point came when a famous Malayalam actress became a victim of a widely reported sexual assault in the dead of night one day in 2017 and the subsequent formation of an organization called Women in Cinema Collective (WCC).

Following public outcry, the Kerala Government set up the Justice Hema Committee, headed by retired Kerala High Court judge K. Hema, in July 2017 to investigate the issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, especially allegations of sexual violence and gender inequality. The committee was flooded with complaints; it submitted the report in 2019, but made it public only in August 2024. Mohanlal’s untimely resignation came following this development.

The State government in December last year informed a Special Bench of the Kerala High Court that as many as 32 FIRs had been registered on the basis of the Hema Committee report and investigation into them are on. The High Court had observed that the witness statements in the Report disclosed the commission of cognizable offences, which could be treated as "information" to take action as per Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

However, a director and a couple of actors went to the Supreme Court appealing against the High Court’s green signal to register FIRs. The apex court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeeep Mehta dismissed the petitions, permitting the police to proceed in the cases.

It was in the background of such developments in the Mollywood and tumbling out of more skeletons of sexual exploitation that the election of the office-bearers of AMMA took place. Many women artistes, men too, came out in favour of passing the baton to women office-bearers as they were seen as the victims of exploitation.

However, a few attempts were made to discredit the women candidates in the field. For example, FIRs were registered against Shweta Menon, who has since been elected to the top post, alleging that she performed roles in movies having vulgar and obscene content for financial gains and the alleged content was transmitted via social media and adult sites. However, the High Court stayed the proceedings in the case.

Amid these dramatic developments, the outcome of the AMMA elections sends out a clear message: women movie artistes have proved they are no longer voiceless; they are no push-overs; and in the men-dominated movie world, they are ready to take a leading role to end the former’s hegemony.

Meanwhile, Malayalam Filmmaker Vinayan has alleged that the election to the executive committee of the Kerala Film Producers' Association on August 14 was not held in a democratic manner.

"Even the person, who had supported my nomination for the post of general secretary, could his cast his vote due to threats and inducements from a section that had been in power for long,'' he alleged in a Facebook post.

He further said a senior producer, who had stood with him in the election, turned silent owing to fear. The group in power is not increasing the membership number to remain in power, he changed.