Mollywood superstar Mohanlal has recently resigned from the post of president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) after several top actors in the industry faced sexual allegation charges.
And now, Parvathy Thiruvothu, one of the key members of the Women of Cinema Collective movement has come forward and said that Mohanlal's decision to resign was a cowardly act.
"The first thought I had when I heard the news about the collective resignation was - 'how cowardly'. How cowardly of them to step away from a position where they are now accountable to speak to media? Again, the onus falls on us, women, to take the conversation and the debates forward," said Parvathy.
Authoritarian rule in Malayalam film industry
Speaking with Barkha Dutt in Mojo Story, Parvathy noted that an authoritarian rule is prevalent in the Malayalam film industry.
Apart from Mohanlal, all the executive members of AMMA had also resigned from their respective posts amid this row.
Parvathy also slammed the executive committee members in AMMA, and claimed that it was these same members who welcomed Dileep after an alleged attack against a top actor in the industry.
"This is the same executive committee that welcomed the prime accused [Dileep] of the sexual assault case back to the fold when the case was still going on. This is the executive committee that claimed none of these things actually exist at all until the allegations against them came out," she added.
Government not concerned about women in film industry
During the talk, Parvathy also criticized the Pinarayi Vijayan-led CPI(M) ruling government in Kerala for being not bothered about the allegations raised by women in the film industry.
"The government was also careless to make statements like, 'If women have complaints, they should just file an FIR and come up with the names.' The entire onus is put on women to name and shame and take the brunt of it after that," noted Parvathy.
On the acting front, Parvathy was last seen in the movie Thangalaan which starred Chiyaan Vikram in the lead role. The film, upon its release, received positive responses from critics and audiences alike, and it has already collected nearly Rs.100 crores from the box office.
