Mollywood unions’ modus operandi is being repeatedly and rightfully questioned, of late.While Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) was lambasted for its non-committal stance on actress assault case, directors and producers Amal Neerad and Anwar Rasheed are now planning to approach the government to seek solution for the “unofficial ban” that has been imposed on their films by the Kerala Film Distributors Association These bans on actors and directors and the theatre strikes have now become a regular phenomenon in the film industry, and filmmakers have expressed concern regarding how the welfare bodies are meddling with the growth of Mollywood.Amal Neerad, whose recent movie Comrade in America was not screened in 49 theatres for the last 40 days despite the initial agreement with the distributors, is the latest to face the brunt after he released the film a day before the latter’s union had organised an “unofficial” strike against multiplexes.“It’s becoming a tough time for filmmakers and that’s because there is hardly any democracy in these organisations,” he says. “It’s become a monopoly where a group of five or six people do as they please. You are either with them or you are banned. Why is there a ban culture in the 21st century? No other industries have such practices. They have organisations that work for the welfare of the cinema; not otherwise.”Director Anil Radhakrishnan Menon points out that it’s often the relative newcomers or small films that are the most affected. “The strike in January this year had heavily affected a lot of producers and debut filmmakers as their movies couldn’t release on time. This saps out a lot of energy and demoralises filmmakers,” he says. “Even experienced directors, who are heavily involved from the pre-production till it hits the theatres, sort of get tired of these unnecessary bans and strikes.”The filmmaker says that these bodies decide which film to pick up for distribution and screen in a theatre and “so, they always have the leverage”.Supporting Anil, director and cinematographer Rajeev Ravi says, “When distributors have that clout, new filmmakers will definitely have to go to them. You can make whatever movie you want but if it’s not distributed, what’s the point? If you are in their good books, you get good treatment. And to be in their good books – a lot of factors matter including caste, community and religion.”Rajeev though slams the “old guard of the cinema who are standing as barriers to the growth of Malayalam cinema with their fascist tactics”.“They are not allowed to impose ban on any person as it’s an unfair trade practice and you can take legal action against them.