Mammootty lay back on the chair his eyes closed, Mohanlal scribbled on a notepad, while Mukesh and Ganesh pointed their finger menacingly at reporters.
All this while actor and MLA Innocent, the President of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), told the media that he did not know about the derogatory remarks by a few of his colleagues on the female star who was abducted and assaulted in February.
This was how the much awaited press meet by AMMA, the most powerful body of Malayalam cinema played out in Kochi on Thursday.
Months after AMMA said that it would extend all support to a prominent woman actor, Thursday saw the members arrogantly exerting that it would protect its "children."
The ‘children’ that AMMA was referring to was the woman survivor and actor Dileep. Dileep is now embroiled in a controversy over his derogatory remarks and was also questioned by the police on the conspiracy surrounding the crime itself.
AMMA's general body meeting on Thursday was an event that was observed with much curiosity. For it was at this meeting, that the issues related to the abduction and the alleged sexual assault of a woman actor and the subsequent turn of events was to be discussed.
Allegations against actor Dileep over his involvement in the crime gained momentum recently as the actor was subjected to a 13-hour long questioning by the police on Wednesday. At the general body meet, there was much speculation that AMMA will take a stand on the matter and also address issues including the insensitive public statements made by actor Dileep against the survivor.
However, what transpired in the half-an-hour press meet held in Kochi was different.
Refusing to take sides or convey a stand on actor Dileep's alleged involvement, the association members even lost cool while speaking to media persons.
"Both are AMMA's children and we will not allow anyone to target either of them. Do not think the organisation will collapse, we all stand united. You can try your best, but we will not isolate them," vice-president of AMMA and MLA Ganesh Kumar told the media who bombarded the Committee members with questions. He asked the media not to target Dileep.
AMMA President Innocent insisted that the association has always extended full support to the survivor and has cooperated in the investigation.
"We have trust in the investigation and let that continue. It's a legal case and if the police feel fit to question actor Dileep over it, let it be so. We are all cooperating," Innocent said.
While it was speculated that the woman actor's case will be brought up in the general body meeting, members of the association said that "nobody raised the matter."
"We asked all members if they want to raise any issues, but none of them brought up this matter and hence it was not discussed," member Ganesh said.
At one point Mukesh and Ganesh lost their cool at the media, while the two big stars, Mammootty and Mohanlal, did not utter a word.
Recently, actor Dileep had said in a television channel discussion that the woman actor was friends with prime accused Pulsar Suni and that she should have exercised more caution in choosing her friendships.
At the press meet, Dileep said that his words were "distorted and misinterpreted."
"I only spoke about their familiarity at shooting locations. But my words were distorted," Dileep claimed.