Thiruvananthapuram | The rift within the Kerala Film Producers' Association has come out into the open with senior producer Antony Perumbavoor criticising the association's vice president G Suresh Kumar for unilaterally announcing strike from June 1.

Such an announcement should be made publicly only after securing the support of the majority of members in the organisation, Perumbavoor stated in a Facebook post on Thursday.

He suggested that Suresh Kumar might have been pressured by other organisations into expressing such an opinion.

The February 7 meeting of film organisations in Kochi was attended by the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA), the Film Exhibitors United Organisation and the Distributors' Association.

Since he publicly expressed his personal view on a decision not taken by our association I am taking the same freedom to speak out, Perumbavoor wrote in his post.

He said a strike will not benefit the cinema industry in any way, as it involves an issue that directly and indirectly affects hundreds of people and thereby thousands of families.

"There should be clarity on who authorised Suresh Kumar to make these statements on behalf of the association. I feel he has been misled by certain vested interests," said Perumbavoor, whose banner Ashirvad Cinemas is one of the leading production houses in Malayalam cinema.

Perumbavoor also criticised Suresh Kumar for mocking and challenging the success of Malayalam films that entered the Rs 100-crore club.

He said that taking pride in Malayalam films and achieving box-office collections on par with other language films was natural.

He questioned why Suresh Kumar, a former KFPA president made such allegations against Malayalam cinema.

He also pointed out that the association's current president, Anto Joseph remained silent on the issue indicating that he agreed with Kumar.

Additionally Perumbavoor criticised Suresh Kumar for speaking authoritatively about the production cost of Ashirvad Cinema's yet-to-be-released film 'Empuraan', starring Mohanlal and directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran.

"I cannot understand how Suresh Kumar who does not know the cost of the film can speak so authoritatively about it. The film is still in the final stages of pre-production," he said.

Perumbavoor asserted that it is the democratic responsibility of KFPA's office bearers to correct such mistakes and expressed hope that the association, led by Anto Joseph would take corrective action.

Meanwhile the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) ad-hoc committee has sent a letter to KFPA condemning its ‘irresponsible' statement that AMMA was a leaderless organisation and that production costs were rising due to top actors demanding high remuneration.

"The salaries of actors are fixed based on an understanding with the producer, actor and director. If the superstars are taking big salaries, producers can choose to cast other artistes," an ad-hoc committee member told PTI, on condition of anonymity.

In a show of support for Perumbavoor's stance, actors Prithviraj Sukumaran, Unni Mukundan and Aju Varghese shared his post on social media.