Poet, lyricist and actor Balachandran Chullikkad was elected as president of the Writers’ Union of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) on Saturday, April 22. He defeated actor Joy Mathew, gaining 50 of the 72 votes. Joy Mathew won 21 votes while the remaining vote was invalid. Other office bearers have also been elected during the Saturday election. Scriptwriter and director Jinu Abraham, known for movies like Adam Joan and Masters, is the new General Secretary of FEFKA Writers Union.
Writer Sreemoolanagaram Mohan was elected as treasurer. Both Jinu and Mohan were elected unopposed. Lyricist Mankombu Gopalakrishnan was elected the vice president while scriptwriter Sreekumar Arookutty became the joint secretary. Executive committee members Benny P Nayarambalam, Udayakrishna, Jose Thomas, Benny Asamsa, Baton Bose, Jesson Joseph were also elected unopposed.
The FEFKA is the parent body of several film organisations that represent artists and technicians. The Writers’ Union is one of the bodies that fall under the FEFKA. Last week, FEFKA convened a press meet to express its displeasure about the conduct of some actors.
FEFKA general secretary and filmmaker B Unnikrishnan had said that failure of some actors to sign agreements with the Producers Association, approved by the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A.) was leading to conflict of dates and other issues. Unnikrishnan had said that these actors would commit to work on the same dates with different directors and producers but not sign the agreement because "they know they will be in trouble".
He had also spoken about actors who insist on being present during the editing process of the film and bring other people along to watch it. Though Unnikrishnan did not specify which actors were causing trouble, there are speculations that these were actors from the younger generation.