The controversy over casting couch in the Malayalam film industry took an interesting turn on Tuesday as Mohan Lal, popularly known as the superstar and South Indian Amitab Bachchan, quit as president of Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), the apex body of film stars.
All office bearers, including the executive committee members of AMMA, too, submitted their resignation along with Lal as the industry is plagued by allegations of sexual misconduct.
A number of stars and directors, including Ranjith, (chairman, Chalachitra Academy), Siddique (general secretary, Amma), Mukesh MLA, Jayasoorya, Manian Pillai Raju, KP Prakash, Babu Raj (joint secretary, Amma) Babu (former general secretary, AMMA) have been named by female artists as people seeking sexual favours in lieu of work or inappropriate behaviour or even attempt to rape.
Those who raised the issue include Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra, Revathy Sampath, Minu Muneer, Geetha Vijayan and a number of junior and senior artists giving the Malayalam film industry a bad name.
Lal's decision to quit was preceded by a WhatsApp chat with other office bearers and members of the executive committee. "We can expect more such allegations in coming days and it is better to quit rather than face the charges. Let a new team of office-bearers take over after the general body meeting," Lal reportedly told his colleagues. Though other office-bearers persuaded Lal to continue, the super star remained adamant and resigned.
Also, he asked others to submit their resignations.
Lal is undergoing treatment in a corporate hospital in Ernakulam following dengue fever.
Meanwhile Mukesh, the CPI(M) MLA who has been alleged of misbehaviour by Minu Muner has filed a complaint with the director general of police against the female artist accusing her of trying to abuse him.
A section of CPI(M) is of the view that Mukesh is being helped by the Eezhava lobby in the party to wriggle out of the dilemma.
While a section of film artists welcomed the move by Lal and his associates to quit, another section challenged the move. "I was shocked to hear about the new development. It would have been ideal had the office bearers facing the allegations submitted their resignations," said Anup Chandran, a senior character artist.
The ongoing "crisis" in the film industry has its roots in the internal wrangle in the CPI(M) as well as the turf war in film industry between two directors. A senior member of the party who is in the race for chief minister's chair and who has a stronghold in the State's cultural world and a movie maker who has personal score to settle with his peer are seen as the epicentres of the "earthquakes" that shattered the filmdom.
Industry veterans like Santhivila Dinesh and Mankombu Gopalakrishnan blamed a section of the stars for the present state of affairs. "I will blame the female artists only for this scenario. Had they come out immediately after the incidents and reported about it, they would have had some credibility," said Dinesh.
The general opinion among film personalities is that even if a new group of office bearers take over AMMA, it would take years for the things to get normalised.
