The Malayalam actors’ consortium made a mockery of all the women in the industry by reinstating actor Dileep, who was expelled from the Association of Malayalam Movie Actors (AMMA) over his alleged involvement in assaulting an actress.

Here is a small recap: A group of goons forcefully enters an actress’ car on a highway near Athani and tries to harass her. Initial police investigation has shown that Pulsar Suni, AKA Sunil Kumar, former driver of the actress, assisted Dileep, as revenge for being fired from his job.

The actress was on her way to home in Kochi after a shoot was attacked by a gang, who forced themselves into the car and molested her. They are said to have taken photographs and threatened blackmail before escaping in another car.

According to police reports, it was the actress’ proximity to Manju Warrier, former wife of Dileep, which created issues that eventually led to a divorce in 2015, where the actress leaked phone conversation of actor Dileep and Kavya Madhavan, another actress, exposing their illegal affair. Actor Dileep had earlier threatened the actress in the presence of actor Siddique during an award function.

The police investigation showed the link between Pulsar Sunni and Actor Dileep which led to his arrest on July 10, 2017. Dileep was let out on bail on October 3, after only 85 days in prison.

The AMMA took this reference and announced during a meeting held on June 24, 2018, the decision to bring back Dileep. It was reportedly made while the case is still pending in court. It’s said that the decision was made after actor Mohanlal took charge of the AMMA.

Most Malayalam actresses are part of the consortium, and the move downright mocking to them. Surprisingly, this is not the first time the association is doing something like this. Earlier during an event organised called ‘AMMA Mazhavillu’ a stage show, where they played a skit by big stars Mammootty and Mohanlal, involving seven female actors which mocked the need for women’s empowerment and had mocked the Women in Collective Cinema (WCC), a non-profit organisation for actresses in the Malayalam film industry.

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Clearly, the AMMA has conveyed their anti-woman stance. This should become a part of a worldwide conversation on sexism, in such a cheap manner. Using the biggest platform they could, for the second time in a row, they did the same by taking actor Dileep back.

Reacting to the whole incident, actor Rima Kallingal said that Collective might consider leaving AMMA if the body did not convince members of the WCC why they must stay.