By: Sukanya Shaji, Korah Abraham
The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), on Friday, August 23, denied the existence of an all-controlling power lobby in Malayalam cinema as pointed out by the Hema Committee report. The report, which was recently released to RTI applicants on August 21, stated that the industry is under the grip of a ‘power group' and that ‘casting couch', a euphemism for sexual harassment, is the norm in the industry. But AMMA general secretary Siddique denied this in a press meet, after four days of silence on the report. Though the shocking findings of the report led to widespread public discourse in the state, neither AMMA nor any of the big stars of Malayalam cinema had responded to it until now.