Actor Raveendran withdraws his nomination for AMMA president post

Actor Raveendran has withdrawn his nomination to the post of president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA). However, he will contest for the post of general secretary in the election for the executive committee of the association to be held on August 15.

The actor said on Tuesday (July 29, 2025) that it was his personal decision to withdraw the nomination to the post of president.

He was among the six actors who had filed the nominations for the post of president on the last day for filing nominations on July 24. The others included Jagadeesh, Shweta Menon, Devan, Anoop Chandra, and Jayan Cherthala.

On speculations that a consensus may emerge to support a woman to the post of president, Mr. Raveendran said it should be welcomed.

The last date for withdrawal of nominations is July 31. As many as 74 nominations were filed for the election scheduled for August 15.

Though there were reports that Mr. Jagadeesh may withdraw his nomination to the post of president, there was no official confirmation yet from the actor. It was stated that he may withdraw to support the candidature of Swetha Menon, the lone woman candidate in the fray for the post of president.

A divided house

The association continued to remain a divided house on whether the members accused of misconduct in the Hema Committee report (on the issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry) or cases registered in its wake should contest the election. The issue came to the fore after actor Baburaj, who had faced allegations of sexual assault, filed his nomination to the post of general secretary.

While actors such as Sarayu and Ansiba had stated that there was nothing wrong in the accused members contesting, others, including Mallika Sukumaran, Maala Parvathi, and Anoop Chandran, have opposed it, stating that it may set a bad precedent as actors had stayed away on earlier occasions after facing such allegations.

Actor Vijay Babu, an accused in a rape case filed by a woman actor, said in a social media post on Tuesday that he had stepped down from the executive committee of the association following the allegations and that Mr. Baburaj should stay away this time as the latter has cases pending against him.