Bangalore, June 29 (IANS) Controversial Kannada actress Jayamala created history by becoming the first women president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC).

The sixty-year-old trade body never had a woman heading it. Jayamala, who scorched headlines when she claimed that she had touched Shabarimala Ayyappa's idol, defeated producer B.M. Harish by a big margin. The election was held Saturday afternoon and results were announced late in the night.

Jayamala told IANS that as the president of the film body she will take the support of each member of the organisation.

'As an Actor I would appeal to all the top stars of the Kannada film industry to rally around the film chamber's initiatives to bring out some qualitative improvement in the production sector,' Jayamala added.

She also said that she would try to accommodate everyone's opinion to bring maximum benefits to the Kannada film industry, which is going through a rough patch.

Jayamala, who has acted in over 100 films, won the National award for her performance in the film 'Thaayi Saheba'. She has won many awards for the films produced by her. Her children film 'Thuthoori' won National Award for the best film for creating awareness about environment.

She has worked with many top artists, including Raj Kumar, Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh, Prabhakar, Shankar Nag and Anant Nag as the heroine. She has also acted as a character artist in many films.

As a producer Jayamala is quality conscious and knows that the Kannada film industry has hit the rock bottom in terms of quality these days.

Though there have been some big hits recently, the Kannada film industry has been plagued by the remake and remix films. Whether Jayamala address these failings in the industry in right earnest has to be seen.

Other winners in the KFCC election include producer-distributor K.C.N. Kumar, who won the secretary's post. Vijayakumar and Thomas D'Souza won the post of the secretary in the distribution and exhibition sector. Producer Rockline Venkatesh and exhibitor Anand of Prasanna theatre were the unanimous choices for the post of vice president in the producer and the exhibition sector. V.H. Suresh became the vice president for distribution sector.