Thiruvananthapuram, June 26 (BPNS)
Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) has drawn flak from Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) in allowing actor, and director Vijay Babu who was accused of rape by a junior woman actor. WCC secretary and scriptwriter, Deedi Damodaran said that AMMA’s action was unfortunate and highly deplorable.
She said that the actress had complained to the police that the actor had raped her several times offering her roles in his new movies.
Vijay Babu had gone into hiding in Dubai after the police complaint and had reached back to Kerala and is now on anticipatory bail.
The WCC has come out strongly against the AMMA allowing Vijay Babu to participate in the AMMA general body meeting of which he is a member. The general body was held on Sunday.
In a related development, Malayalam actress Swetha Menon who was an internal complaints committee (ICC) member of AMMA and who had resigned from the committee on Vijay Babu continuing in the organization even after police had registered a rape case against him was also present throughout the AMMA general body meeting.
Meanwhile, Edavela Babu, actor and general secretary of AMMA said that Vijay Babu is continuing as a member of the organization as his case is subjudice and that the court has not given a verdict against the actor.
In another development Malayalam actor, Shammy Tilakan who was expelled from the organization told media persons that he had not done any wrong to be expelled from the organization. He said that he had given replies to the charges made against him several times to the President of the organization and Malayalam Super Star, Mohanlal but he did not receive any reply.
He said that he was expelled from AMMA due to the ire the organization was still holding against his father, the late legendary Malayalam actor, Tilakan.
Shammy Tilakan also said that he had information that Malayalam superstar Mammooty had supported his continuation in the organization during the general body meeting.
