Association of Malayalam Movie Artists

Association of Malayalam Movie Artists
Full name Association of Malayalam Movie Artists
Founded 1995
Members 485
Key people

Mohanlal (President)

Idavela Babu (General Secretary)
Office location Elankom Nagar, P.T.C. Road, Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram
Country India
Website www.malayalamcinema.com

Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (abbreviated as AMMA) is an association of film actors working in Malayalam cinema.

Objectives

  • To facilitate better relations amongst its members.
  • To act as arbitrators in disputes concerning the general welfare of its members with other associations.
  • To extend financial assistance to its members who are disabled, retired or in any other distress.

Membership

The membership is restricted to actors in Malayalam feature films and will be admitted based on the decision of the governing body.

Types of Membership include :

  • Ordinary Membership - The member artiste who could not be classified as life member for want of experience, acceptance or standing in the field shall be classified as Ordinary Member.
  • Life Membership - A person who is a full-time actor in feature films for a period not less than one year and stands approved by the members in the Governing body is eligible to become a life member by paying the specified fees.
  • Honorary Membership - A person who is admitted based on honor and stands approved by the members in the Governing body is eligible to become an honorary member. Honorary members are waived from paying fees.

Currently 485 actors have taken membership in this association.

Governing body

A governing body of this association is selected for a period of three years to manage and carry out its objectives. The officers of the Governing body shall include President, two Vice-presidents, General Secretary, Joint Secretary Treasurer and other Executive Committee members. Only members with Life Membership status can become a member of the Governing body.

The new office-bearers for the year 2018–2021 were selected as follows :

Executive Committee Members : Indrans, Sudheer Karamana, Jayasurya, Baburaj, Asif Ali, Tini Tom, Aju Varghese, Honey Rose, Swetha Menon, Rachana Narayanankutty and Unni Sivapal.

Activities

  • All AMMA association members are enrolled into a medical insurance of two lakh rupees each.
  • Kaineettam: A monthly stipend of Rs 5000 is given to select members who are not active in their profession due to old age or due to other ailments. 137 members of AMMA are reported to be receiving this monthly stipend on a regular basis.
  • In addition to the membership fees collected from few of its privileged members, the association self-finances its members' welfare activities by conducting regular fund raising shows.[1]

Public Contributions

  • AMMA association contributed Rs 50 Lakhs to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund, to extend its support during 2018 Kerala floods.[2]
  • On Oct 6, 2018 Mohanlal announced to the media that AMMA along with Asianet will conduct a stage show in Abu Dhabi by December 2018 with the intent to raise around 5 Crore rupees which would be handed over to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund.

Controversies

  • On February 2010, the senior actor Thilakan announced to the media that few members within AMMA has conspired and denied him work. The executive members of AMMA convened meetings multiple times to hear his complaints. Since Thilakan did not attend those meetings and continued to publicly defame the association in the media, he was expelled from the association.[3] After the veteran actor Thilakan passed away, his son Shammi Thilakan, a member of AMMA, requested the AMMA leadership to reconsider and reinstate the membership of his father posthumously.
  • In March 2017, based on the petition by director Vinayan in 2012, Competition Commission of India (CCI), imposed a total fine of Rs 11.25 Lakhs on the AMMA and Film Employees Federation Of Kerala (FEFKA) for denying opportunities for Vinayan, preventing artists from co-operating with Vinayan, and rejecting his films from theaters.[4][5]
  • On February 2017, a popular film actress who was the member of AMMA, filed a police complaint that her car was hijacked by few men and the offenders took sexually explicit videos with the intent to blackmail her. Kerala Police arrested the goons that hijacked the car. During interrogation, one of the goons named Dileep, was behind the conspiracy. Later Dileep was interrogated, and based on the circumstantial evidence collected by the police, a chargesheet was filed against Dileep and submitted before the Kerala Magistrate Court. The Court observed that there is prima facie evidence against Dileep and his arrest cannot be avoided. A total of 12 persons, including Dileep was arrested in the case. In response to public reaction and media outcry on this subject, few of AMMA's executive members met at Mammootty's residence and decided to expel Dileep, from its primary membership following his arrest on July 11, 2017. After being in police custody for 83 days, Dileep was granted conditional bail. He remains one of the twelve accused and the court case is still under trial. On June 24, 2018, AMMA executive members clarified that Dileep's expulsion did not follow AMMA's bylaws and procedures to expel a member and legally it can be argued that Dileep continues to be a member of AMMA.[6] Members of Women in Cinema Collective revolted openly against AMMA's statement and argued that Dileep has to be expelled so long as he is one of the accused. Following this there was statewide protests and AMMA president Innocent stepped down. Actor Mohanlal took over as the new president. Few actors even resigned from AMMA's membership, and associations like Mahila Congress and All India Youth Federation, took the protests to streets and burnt effigy of the newly elect AMMA president Mohanlal.[7] Kerala Women's Commission and few Kerala State Ministers criticised AMMA's decision. Actor Siddique defended his colleague Dileep, arguing that he can be proclaimed guilty only when the court has issued the verdict. [8] On August 7 2018, AMMA's executive office bearers headed by actor Mohanlal met Revathi, Parvathy and Padmapriya to discuss the women actors' concerns and followed up on their request to expel Dileep. On Sept 13th and 17th, two letters was sent by Revathi, Parvathy and Padmapriya to expedite the process of expelling the actor Dileep. In the third letter to AMMA, the association was asked to take a final decision on the expulsion of actor Dileep before Oct 9. On Oct 6 2018, AMMA's executive committee members headed by actor Mohanlal met together and while addressing the media announced that the association's legal advisors have adviced them that a decision taken by the general body can only be revised by the general body and hence the members of Women in Cinema Collective will have to wait till such general body is conducted. On Oct 13th 2018, in a press meet the Women in Cinema Collective members accused the AMMA office bearers of being unresponsive and setting a negative example to the community at large by not removing the actor Dileep, the co-accused in the sexual assault case.

Actress Revathi said "When Thilakan was expelled they did not call a General Body meeting. They keep changing their versions just to evade taking a decision on this matter. I have come across a 17-year-old girl who knocked on my door pleading for help from being sexually exploited. She added that she wants this industry to be safe for women and fighting for this change may be difficult but imperative. Beena Paul, who is the vice-chairman of the state-run Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, said "There are so many stories of sexual victimization and slowly these will come out." Women in Cinema Collective outlined the need for formation of an independent internal complaints commission within AMMA, since there is no other association for Malayalam Cinema actors, where workplace related issues can be taken up. The request currently seems to be sidelined.

  • On Oct 9 2018, as part of the #metoo movement, Bollywood casting director Tess Joseph accused Malayalam actor and AMMA Vice President Mukesh of sexual harassment. Tess Joseph stated in her Twitter feed that 19 years ago during the filming of a popular television game reality show Koteeshwaran, hosted then by actor Mukesh, called her room multiple times and even changed her room to the one beside his room in the next schedule at Le Meridian Hotel. She adds that her then boss Derek O Brien was informed about the situation and she managed to leave on the very next flight. AMMA Vice President Mukesh, responded that he does not remember the events correctly. Rima Kallingal representing Women in Cinema Collective stated that she expects AMMA leadership to set a positive precedence favouring women, just like the Cine & TV Artistes Association (CINTAA) and the Indian Film and Television Directors Association (IFTDA) reacted on similar #metoo sexual harrassment allegations.

References

  1. ↑ malayalamcinema.com: News. Malayalacinema.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-03.
  2. ↑ . filmibeat.com Retrieved on August 18, 2018
  3. ↑ Rajendran, Sowmya (11 July 2017). article/cardboard-heroes-amma-must-apologise-not-standing-survivor-65004 "The cardboard heroes of AMMA must apologise for not standing by the survivor" Check |url= value (help). The News Minute. The News Minute. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "Film bodies slapped Rs 11.25-lakh fine for ban on director Vinayan - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  5. ↑ "CCI slaps penalty on Kerala film industry collectives". OnManorama. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  6. ↑ "Association of Malayalam Movie Artists clears the decks for Dileep's return". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2018-06-24.
  7. ↑ "AIYF protests AMMA's decision to reinstate Dileep, activists burn Mohanlal effigy". The News Minute. The News Minute. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  8. ↑ "Dileep row: AMMA sets date to meet WCC members". The Indian Express. The Indian Express. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.