Actress Padmapriya Criticises Outgoing AMMA Members, Labels Resignations As 'Irresponsible'

Malayalam actress Padmapriya Janakiraman has termed AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists), the actor body in Malayalam cinema, a disorganised and ineffective organisation. She described the mass resignation of AMMA’s executive committee as an irresponsible move and noted that the organisation lacked both backbone and intelligence.

In a recent interview, Padmapriya stated that she did not expect the mass resignations from AMMA. She criticised the film bodies for treating the current issues merely as sexual harassment allegations rather than addressing the “underlying power dynamics that enable such misconduct.

Padmapriya also criticized the Kerala government for withholding the Justice Hema Committee Report for over four and a half years.

She pointed out that simply creating a special investigating team was insufficient. She further stated that sexual harassment had been prevalent in the Malayalam cinema business for many years owing to power groups.

She expressed concern over the lack of clarity on the action needed to be taken based on the Justice Hema Committee’s recommendations. The actress also recounted an experience from her time in Malayalam cinema: “When I was around 25-26 years old, a leading production manager asked me, ‘Aren’t you getting too old? Maybe it’s time to stop.’ This is the kind of perspective that exists in the Malayalam industry.”

Padmapriya was also surprised that Mohanlal and Mammootty were “allegedly unaware” of the challenges confronting women in Malayalam films, as stated in the Justice Hema Committee Report.

She added that both actors should try to understand the problems if they were indeed unaware.

Recently, more women actresses in Malayalam cinema have been coming forward and sharing their traumatic experiences after the release of the report.

Recently, Tamil actor Radikaa Sarathkumar shared that there were hidden cameras in the caravans on one of the Malayalam films she worked on.

She shared that some members of her film team were watching the footage recorded by the hidden cameras. However, she did not reveal where she discovered these activities.

Padmapriya Janakiraman, better known mononymously as Padmapriya, mainly appears in Malayalam films. Padmapriya made her acting debut in the year 2004 with the Telugu film Seenu Vasanthi Lakshmi and has never looked back. Some of her popular works include Thavamai Thavamirundhu, Karutha Pakshikal, Mirugam, and Pazhassi Raja, to name a few.