Malayalam film actor Mohanlal resigned as president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) on 27th August in a fallout of the Justice K. Hema Committee report and its #MeToo aftermath in which allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment have been levelled against several prominent celebrities of the Malayalam film industry. The executive committee of the AMMA has also been dissolved. The outgoing executive committee mentioned that a new leadership would be elected within the next two months. The AMMA executive committee was widely criticised for its inaction and passive response to the findings of the Hema Committee as well as revelations of several actors.
Meanwhile, director Sajin Babu, who was accused of sexual misconduct by two women after he put up an online post in praise of the Hema committee report, apologised for his act. He said, “I can’t undo what I have done. I apologise and ensure that over the past several years, I have not and will not repeat this behaviour.” He added that while the second incident was untrue, the first one took place in 2013-14. He elaborated that he had apologised several times to the woman and it had been agreed that the matter had been resolved.
The Hema Committee probed allegations of sexual exploitation of women in the industry and found that there was widespread sexual harassment on film sets and during auditions, and a “casting couch” culture was prevalent.