General body meeting of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) is scheduled for June 22, when decisions will be made regarding the new leadership of the association.
AMMA, which was elected in 2024, was dissolved shortly after allegations of sexual abuse were raised against several of its executive members, including its general secretary and actor Siddique. These allegations followed the Hema Committee expose, in which multiple women made serious accusations against prominent actors.
Jayan Cherthala, ad-hoc committee vice-president, told the media that Mohanlal, who was elected as the president of the 2024-2027 governing council but resigned due to the controversies, may take back the post if the ad-hoc committee is allowed to continue.
"On ad-hoc committee's request Mohanlal has agreed to stay on, but only if the previous members are allowed to remain in their positions. Mohanlal said that he is not interested in running for another election, and he would step down if the general body, which will meet on June 22, seeks a poll," added Jayan Cherthala.
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Meanwhile, cases that emerged from the Hema Committee’s findings on sexual exploitation and the misogyny within the Malayalam film industry have been decided to be dropped. The Kerala Police have decided to close the cases. The move to file Further Action Dropped (FAD) reports in the 35 criminal cases stems from special investigation team's (SIT) inability to gather sufficient evidence.
According to sources, despite repeated summons by both the SIT and the court, the survivors declined to provide statements in connection with the cases.
Additional Inspector General of Police and nodal officer for the probe, G Poonguzhali, pointed out that while the FAD reports have been filed in 21 of these cases due to a complete lack of progress, the remaining 14 cases are also likely to be dropped temporarily.
However, the nodal officer clarified that the cases are not being closed permanently. "The survivors can come forward at any point, which would enable us to reopen investigations. In the absence of cooperation, there is a legal and procedural dead end.”
She added that the SIT had issued three rounds of notices. The court also summoned the survivors thrice but they did not turn up. Hence, making further investigation is impossible under the circumstances.
Despite the setback in taking legal actions into Hema Committee’s findings, police investigations into nearly 70 other cases, registered after the public release of the report are ongoing. Of these, charge sheets have already been filed in over 20 cases.
Notably, prominent figures in the Malayalam film industry, including MLA M Mukesh, Siddique, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpillai Raju and Ranjith, have been named in the submitted charge sheets.
The Hema Committee was constituted in 2017 following growing demands from women in the film industry for systemic reform and protection from harassment.
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