AMMA was not helpful in my case: Sridevika

Actress Sridevika, who opened up about the bitter experiences that she had faced on the sets of a movie, has lashed out against the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists. In a letter written by the actress to the association, Sridevika alleged that AMMA didn’t support her when she had sought its help in the matter. Sridevika, who has acted in almost 16 movies in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada, wrote the letter in response to actor Siddique's recent comment at a press meet that AMMA can solve the grievances and concerns of its members even without having a special women’s cell.

In her letter Sridevika alleged that while she was working on a movie in 2006, someone had constantly knocked on her door in the middle of the night. When this continued for 3-4 days she enquired at the reception and confirmed that it was the movie’s director.

Sridevika, in her letter, claimed that she had then addressed the issue with her co-actor who arranged to shift her room to the floor in which he too was staying. “After this incident, the director’s behaviour to me was very rude on the sets. He wouldn’t explain the scenes or even look at my face and speak, my dialogues and shots were trimmed….I did not know how to confront these issues and neither did AMMA have a grievance committee. So I kept it to myself and suffered through those days of torture,” wrote Sridevika in her letter.

In another incident, as noted by Sridevika in her letter, she had approached the then secretary of AMMA regarding the issue of payment of her salary. She wrote, “After listening to my concerns, the secretary asked me not to raise a complaint since that may hamper my career, as no producer would cast me in the future. I didn’t know better and kept silent. I wasn’t paid the contracted salary for the next film as well. With my previous experience in mind I decided not to raise an official complaint with AMMA. I tried to fight for my promised salary and informed the producers that I would not come for the shoot unless my dues were paid. Consequently I received a call from the same AMMA secretary asking me to report for work without pay and not raise an issue. However I stood my ground.”

The actress revealed that the producer had then paid her half of the agreed amount. She noted that it was difficult to call one of the executive committee members to raise an issue.

“They never let an issue progress beyond that. The only reason I can possibly find for this is that AMMA needs to portray an image that its members are all united and all issues will be raised and addressed within and nothing goes beyond those walls. Unfortunately it doesn’t help many….Partnering with the powerful and asking the weak to adjust/take a pay cut is not what people join an organization for; it is supposed to protect us and not those with the money and power,” wrote Sridevika in her open letter.

The actress ends her letter by proclaiming that “justice delayed is justice denied”.