Shortly after the office-bearers of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) resigned, following a number of allegations of sexual harassment by women in the industry, senior actor and director Joy Mathew said that they were taking moral responsibility for the charges. Following the publication of the Hema Committee report last week, a compilation of issues faced by women in Malayalam cinema, a number of women came out publicly narrating the sexual harassment they had faced from powerful people in the industry. Some of the women are also pressing charges. In the wake of the allegations and police complaints, office bearers of the AMMA announced their resignation.
“It was a unanimous decision. It shows our moral stand that we have all resigned when only a small number of people are facing allegations. This is in contradiction to the stand taken by political parties that won’t even take action if a legislator is accused of sexual harassment now, We wanted to set an example,” senior actor and director Joy Mathew told TNM.
Actor Mukesh, a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Kerala, from Kollam faces multiple allegations of sexual harassment. But the CPI(M) has not announced any decision on Mukesh despite protests by opposition parties.
Joy Mathew also alleged that one is unable to differentiate between ‘true and false victims’. “Women are being offered Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 lakh by YouTube channels. We no longer know who is giving false statements,” he claimed. When asked if all women are giving false statements, he said that it is difficult to say who is genuine. He also said that the media should be responsible and not telecast all allegations without vetting them.
On August 27, all the office bearers of AMMA, including its president Mohanlal, tendered their resignations. In a statement, AMMA had confirmed that the resignations were tendered after sexual harassment accusations were levelled against some of the officials of the administrative committee of AMMA in the media after the release of the Hema committee report. “The existing administrative committee of AMMA has decided to resign, accepting moral responsibility. A meeting of the general body will be held within two months and the new administrative committee will be elected,” the statement read.
Allegations of sexual harassment and assault were raised against many people in the Malayalam film industry, including AMMA ex-general secretary Siddique, vice-president Jayan R, and joint secretary Baburaj. Among them, Siddique had tendered his resignation on August 25.
Noted director Ranjith had also resigned from his post as chairperson of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy following allegations of sexual harassment by a Bengali actor, who went on to file a police case against him on Monday.