Actor Hareesh Peradi has resigned from the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) in protest against the “anti-woman and misogynist attitude” of the organisation.
“I have submitted the resignation through email addressed to the president and the secretary of the association. I cannot continue further in an organisation that is deeply misogynist in its attitude towards women,” he said on Saturday.
Mr. Peradi had sharply criticised the association leadership through his Facebook posts after actor Mala Parvathy resigned from the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the organisation for not expelling actor-producer Vijay Babu from the executive committee.
Mr. Babu is facing charges of raping an upcoming actor and then revealing her identity through social media. Actors Shweta Menon and Kukku Parameswaran had also followed suit in protest against the decision by the association leadership to permit Mr. Babu to keep out of the executive committee on his own till his innocence is proven.
Stating that the association of actors had continuosly failed to act against those responsible for actions against women, Mr. Peradi pointed out that there was no point in remaining as a member in such a “star-centred” organisation. “Senior actor Suresh Gopi had called me after hearing about my resignation and asked me to fight from within. Nobody else had called me yet after I sent my official resignation letter,” he said.
The actor has informed the association leadership that they need not refund the ₹1-lakh membership fee remitted by him as it could be used towards the health and other welfare schemes for beneficiaries. “But what is the point in such charity and welfare programmes when the organisation lacked a clear stance on various social issues, especially those concerning women?” he asked.
