AMMA on Saas Bahu turf; TV beckons Malayalam cinema
The ‘mother’ of all glitzy organizations is stepping into the saas-bahu terrain! Kerala’s celluloid stars, who have put up a strong brave front on many occasions under the umbrella of AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes), have now come up with a plan that would go a long way in extending support to actors who are forced to drop out of silver screen acting jobs after their prime.
The route they have taken is the path that leads to the smaller screen. What AMMA plans is to produce television serials that would provide jobs to actors and yester year stars who find it tough finding roles in big screen ventures.
With television already a big business in Kerala, much has been written about the big screen-small screen tussle. However, the big screen players under the AMMA umbrella are taking things more positively at the moment and considering television as a younger sibling so that both the platforms go hand in hand.
Talent isn’t rare when it comes to Malayalam cinema, and every passing day a new star is born. With an added number of actors making it big on the silver screen almost every Friday, those who were considered irreplaceable during their prime suddenly find roles not coming their way.
AMMA, an organization that took shape years ago to ensure the welfare of all actors who are members, had been looking at ways to rehabilitate yester year stars by finding roles for them on the small screen.
The new generation wave in Malayalam cinema has also done away with characters who once acted as props to the protagonists but had nothing to do with the actual storyline. Actors who had played such roles find no calls from producers coming their way these days and most of them are said to be struggling to make both ends meet.
However, AMMA is not prepared to remain idle in such a situation. Last week, the film artistes’ organization went through a revamp in its structure and had voted numero uno actor and star Mammootty as its new general secretary, while vetaran actor and MP Innocent was made president. One of the first suggestions that came up from the new office bearers concerned finding a trouble-free existence to actors who found it tough bagging roles in cinema.
Thus was mooted the idea of making a foray into TV serial production, so that such actors can find roles and thereby carry on with their lives. The plan, as AMMA secretary Idavela Babu pointed out to the media, would go a long way in extending a helping hand to actors who don’t have roles on the big screen.
The plan to make serials to help jobless actors comes across as a well thought out one, as television channels are aplenty in Kerala. With a sizable number of viewers swearing by the tearjerkers and mythological serials that are telecast on a number of networks, it is more than sure that those produced by AMMA will have cine stars playing plum roles.
What Kerala would get to see if AMMA’s plan materializes would be a scene where major networks would start queuing up to bag rights of soaps churned out by the movie stars’ organization. The networks would indeed hope to cash in on the presence of artistes the audiences are familiar with.
Till a few years ago, television was seen as an entry point to the movie screen. Looks like things are taking a U-turn now. And, that too, for a good cause.
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