As Shweta Menon fights a police case, what happens to Malayalam cinema's AMMA?

Can this A.M.M.A. election process get any worse?

Already the elections to identify the next set of board members to represent Malayalam cinema actors has got bogged down in open insults, behind-the-scene malicious campaigns, and worse.

Now comes the latest incident in the ongoing A.M.M.A. election drama.

One of the two remaining contenders for the post of A.M.M.A.’s next president (Mohanlal is the incumbent), Shwetha Menon finds herself facing a police case. Based on the flimsiest of complaints that she had acted in obscene films and advertising campaigns. And this could potentially sully the minds of Kerala’s impressionable viewers.

It doesn’t seem to matter that the ads in question are probably two decades old – if not older. Never mind if these films and ads were all cleared by the censor board and other relevant authorities when they first came out.

What’s remarkable is that the person who made the complaint did so just when Shwetha Menon looked the most likely winner in the contest against veteran actor Devan when the votes are counted on August 15.

Can Shwetha now turn this case into a sympathy vote for herself and race through to a resounding win? Or has her image been tarnished beyond repair and which will see Devan canter to a victory?

Malayalees love action, drama and a bit of tears. What’s happening in A.M.M.A. is much more entertaining than anything seen on film screens in recent weeks. (OK, I am wrong - the Dileesh Pothan-Roshan Mathew movie Ronth that released in June is infinitely more interesting. But the A.M.M.A. election does come a close second.)

Because you have minor figures from the Malayalam film industry calling press conferences for no other reason than to sling some mud anyone they oppose.

So, while these elections are about upholding the highest values and ‘save’ the Malayalam film industry, it’s getting downright dirty ahead of the actual vote. Likely candidates who could have won like Jagadish and Baburaj have ‘voluntarily’ stepped away from the election. Another person who could have been a fine choice as president – Joy Mathew – had his papers ‘rejected’.

All in the name of ensuring free and fair elections…

Not that A.M.M.A. members are strangers to being booked by Kerala Police. There’s Mukesh, Siddique, Edavela Babu have all gone through the motion of arriving at some police station in Kerala, signing on a few documents, and being released on bail.

Shwetha Menon, now fighting a police case of her own, certainly has company.