Well-known female producer Sandra Thomas has been kicked out of the film Association of Kerala Film Producers (KFPA) on charges of violating the organization’s discipline and standards. Thomas had questioned the silence of film organizations, including KFPA, on the surprising revelations in the recently released film Justice Hema Committee Report about alleged harassment and exploitation they face women in Malayalam cinema.
In response to her views, the association had given her a notice period.
At a meeting of the KFPA Executive Committee convened on October 28, it was decided that Thomas had persistently breached discipline and made baseless accusations against committee members. Her response to the show’s cause announcement was also unsatisfactory, KFPA said in a recent letter to Thomas.
“It has thus been decided to terminate the membership of Sandra Thomas Productions and of you, as a person representing the company,” KFPA Secretary B Rajesh said in a letter dated October 28, which was made public on Tuesday.
In response, Thomas told the media that she had been expelled by the association despite a detailed explanation.
“Many women have made revelations in the aftermath of the publication of the Justice Hema Committee report. I feel that they (the association) have excluded me with the intention of silencing all such women,” she told reporters here.
She said if the experience of a producer like her is this, what would be the situation of an engineer or artiste approaching such organizations with a complaint.
Thomas had recently filed a police complaint against nine office bearers of the association, accusing them of behaving offensively at a meeting after inviting her to resolve a dispute over the film production.
Though the Ernakulam central police booked them in October based on her complaint, the producers had rejected the complaint.
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