Actors Revathy, Padmapriya resign from Malayalam Cine Artistes Association

Revathi | Photo credit: SRINATH

Actors Revathy and Padmapriya on Monday resigned from the primary membership of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). “This may appear to be another chapter in the ongoing AMMA saga. It is not. Our resignation is not hasty and is not a single incident,” they said in a joint statement online.

“For nearly a decade, the demand was simple. A safer workplace. Dignity. Accountability. Equal treatment. A minimum that every member deserves. And values ​​we truly believed we could unite around. The price for asking for us was silence and distance. From colleagues, from friends, from spaces where we once felt at home. Yet we stayed. Because hope has a remarkable ability to survive disappointment,” they said.

“Escape from Responsibility”

The actors, who are founding members of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), said the resignations that followed the publication of the Hema Committee report on the problems faced by women in the Malayalam film industry were not principled. “They were a flight from responsibility. Once the attention was gone, the same old order returned. Power keeps finding new ways to protect itself. Faces change. Methods change. But the structures enabling inequality remain intact,” they said.

They pointed out that AMMA was meant to stand as a collective voice for all actors. “But it has become increasingly shaped by patriarchy and power politics, undermining its core ideals. Leaving for us is not defeat. It is self-respect,” they said.

“We have an unshakable belief that the Malayalam film industry can become what it should be, where women do not fight the same battles as their seniors. This belief has never depended on membership,” said the actors, who were among the WCC members who had earlier accused the association’s management of not standing by the survivors in the 2017 actor-rape case.

Published – 06 Jul 2026 22:18 IST