Revathy, Padmapriya quit AMMA, citing failure to reform as crisis engulfs actors’ body

Actors Revathy and Padmapriya, who were key members of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), announced their decision to resign from the organisation in a joint statement issued on Monday night.

The actors said their decision was neither made in anger nor taken in haste, stressing that it was not triggered by a single incident. However, the resignations come at a critical juncture, with AMMA facing one of the deepest crises in its more than three-decade history amid allegations, counter-allegations, and growing questions over its leadership.

Revathy and Padmapriya are also members of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), formed in the aftermath of the 2017 actress assault case. The collective, including Parvathy Thiruvothu, Revathy, Padmapriya, and Rima Kallingal, was founded in response to concerns over women's safety in the industry and dissatisfaction with AMMA's handling of the case involving the accused actor. While several WCC members had resigned from AMMA years ago, Revathy and Padmapriya had chosen to remain within the organisation in the hope of pushing for change from within.

In their joint statement, the actors said they stayed on because they genuinely believed the organisation could unite around fundamental values such as safety, dignity, accountability, and equal treatment. They added, however, that they had gradually come to the conclusion that AMMA, in its current form, was unwilling to reform.

"This may look like one more chapter in the ongoing AMMA saga. It is not. Our resignation is not in haste and not about a single incident. For nearly a decade, the ask was simple: safer workplaces, dignity, accountability, equal treatment — the minimum every member deserves, and values we genuinely believed all of us could unite around.

The price of asking, for us, has been silence and distance — from colleagues, from friends, from spaces that once felt like home. Still, we stayed, because hope has a remarkable ability to survive disappointment. The resignations after the Hema Committee report were not an act of principle. They were an escape from accountability. Once the attention faded, the same old order returned.

Power keeps finding new ways to protect itself. The faces change. The methods change. But the structures enabling inequality remain untouched. AMMA was meant to stand as a collective voice for all actors. But it has become increasingly shaped by patriarchy and power politics, weakening its founding ideals.

Walking away now is not defeat. It is self-respect. We have unwavering faith that the Malayalam film industry can become what it should be — a place where women do not have to fight the same battles their seniors did. That belief never depended on a membership.

We will continue our journey as film professionals, for better storytelling, for our fellow colleagues and for a more equitable industry. We remain deeply grateful to the public and the media, who have stood by us throughout.

Institutions endure not because people stay, but because they remain worthy of trust. We leave this chapter with clarity and hope. See you at the cinemas," the statement read.