Actor Edavela Babu, the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), has received a lot of criticism after he called the collective a club. Recently, actor Joy Mathew wrote an open letter to the secretary stating that he wants to opt out as a member of AMMA and also elucidated that he took the membership of AMMA, thinking of it to be a registered charitable organisation, but as it is a club, the actor has asked to return the membership fee of Rs 1,00,000, which was initially paid by him.
“All were mum when AMMA was called a club. Everybody is scared of the seniors. It is sheer ignorance, and there is no sense of democracy. What would we do if they called AMMA a political organisation?” a part of Joy Mathew’s post read.
Responding to the criticism by various actors against his statement, Edavela Babu wrote an open letter to actor-politician KB Ganesh Kumar pointing out that club is not a bad word.
To make his point, the general secretary of the body, quoted Wikipedia, and wrote, “A club is an association of people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities. There are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.”
Soon after Edavelu Babu’s statement regarding AMMA, Ganesh Kumar said that AMMA is not a club, but a registered charitable organisation, which works for its members and old artists.
In his response, Ganesh Kumar asked Edavela Babu to withdraw his statement and apologise to AMMA members and the public.
