Kochi, June 24 ( IANS) The Malayalam film industry for the past over three decades has been led by Mammootty and Mohanlal as their words always commanded respect and it was the binding thread that held the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes ( AMMA) together, despite the big fat egos of the members.

Of late, things in AMMA have been hanging fire ever since the Hema Committee report was released, “exposing the appalling conditions faced by women in the industry”.

The situation worsened when several women artistes — mostly those in minor roles — came forward with allegations of sexual exploitation by prominent actors.

Trouble started when the newly elected general secretary, Siddique, had to quit after allegations surfaced against him last year.

Even though the Mohanlal-led AMMA executive had a three-year term, following the allegations and the police complaints being registered, the team decided to resign. However, it was asked to continue as an ad-hoc committee till the next annual general body meeting.

When the annual general body meeting was held here on Sunday, it turned out to be a damp squib after differences of opinion surfaced over the way forward.

Finally, it was decided that instead of filling up the vacant posts of secretary and treasurer, a fresh election would be conducted.

An actor on condition of anonymity said the fresh election is to be held in three months, likely in September.

Meanwhile, Mohanlal has told his close aides that he will no longer take up any post and, in the best interest, let a new team consisting of the new generation of actors take over.

However, the new generation of actors is not keen to run AMMA, and this has led to confusion, and what has hurt AMMA the most is the absence of Mammootty, as he is indisposed and is keeping away from all film-related activities for a while.

Mammootty’s words always mattered, and no one used to defy them.

And now with Mohanlal expressing firmly that he is also not interested, all eyes are on who is going to play the unifying role, as talks have started on putting a new team to lead AMMA through a democratic mode.

–IANS

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