A fresh internal dispute has emerged within the Cine and TV Artistes Association (CINTAA), with eight executive committee members resigning from both their positions and the committee, citing an alleged loss of confidence in the organisation’s current leadership. The members have also called for new elections. Amid the escalating disagreement, CINTAA president Poonam Dhillon has hit back at the allegations, describing the claims directed at her and senior vice-president Padmini Kolhapure as “deeply offensive.”The dispute came to the forefront after eight executive committee members submitted a joint resignation letter. In the letter, they alleged that the association’s functioning had increasingly become concentrated around Poonam, Padmini and a select group of other members. They also raised concerns about what they described as repeated violations of collective decision-making, consultation and constitutional procedures.“The president, Poonam Dhillon, has repeatedly taken unilateral decisions, issued official communications through her ID to government officials and unilaterally decided communications to industry bodies, through the official CINTAA ID, and represented the association in public and with other government, quasi-judicial and industry bodies without the knowledge, consultation, and/ or approval of the Executive Committee, thereby nullifying the principle of collective responsibility,” a portion of their resignation letter reportedly stated.The eight elected members who have stepped down are Hemant Pandey, Mukesh Rishi, Sahila Chadha, Hetal Parmar, Puneet Issar, Vindu Dara Singh, Vikas Verma and Deepak Parashar. They have alleged that important decisions were repeatedly taken without consulting the executive committee or securing its approval.CINTAA general secretary Upasana Singh confirmed the resignations to ANI, stating that 11 members in total have submitted their resignations, including the eight executive committee members. “They have also submitted their complaints, stating that Padmini Kolhapure and Poonam Dhillon are misusing their positions,” she said. However, the association’s legal counsel clarified that the executive committee has not been dissolved.Poonam Dhillon has strongly rejected the allegations against her. Responding to what she described as “vulgar and offensive” claims, she told ANI, “What happened was that things were not going their way. They were trying to exercise control over the CINTAA members through the CAWT (Cine Artistes’ Welfare Trust), and when that did not happen, they started making strange and serious allegations against us.”She further expressed her dismay over the nature of the accusations, saying, “You wouldn’t believe how vulgar the allegations were. They were so offensive that, if we wanted to, we could have considered taking action for defamation against each and every person involved. Such allegations, hurtful statements, and offensive language were circulated widely,” she added.The ongoing conflict has also taken an emotional toll on Poonam, who revealed that she had contemplated resigning from the executive committee on several occasions. Reflecting on the situation, she said, “They had two or three, I would say, paid mouthpieces who would speak in this manner. One or two of them were also members of CINTAA, and they made some very inappropriate and hurtful statements. But we still chose to remain silent. But I would only say one thing. My self-respect and integrity are very important. Whatever we have earned over the years, we have not earned it in one or two years. We have built our reputation and self-respect over decades, through our conduct, our dignity, our presence, and the way we have treated and interacted with people.”In another interview with Hindustan Times, she clarified, “Padmini and I are working hard to bring goodwill to CINTAA by using our resources and contacts; it is not for personal gain. No one else was taking initiatives to do anything for members of the organisation, so I’m shocked by their allegations. These members were trying to protect CAWT (Cine Artistes’ Welfare Trust), a trust formed by senior actors like late Dilip Kumar, Amrish Puri and Amjad Khan and others. This trust has not fulfilled its duty to provide medical facilities for members. In the past few decades, no one on the current committee has raised money for CAWT. We recently raised funds through an event and gifted sarees to artistes like Kavita Krishnamurthy and Madhushree and a kurta to Nitin Mukesh, who performed without charging us. The members who resigned are accusing us of buying sarees, did we buy those sarees for ourselves? We acknowledge that these artistes performed for us at no cost, through these gifts. Padmini and I had called them personally and they performed at our behest.” She adds that the singers did a favour for CINTAA. “We raised 1 crore through these performances, so how is it a problem if we spend 1 lakh on gifts for them?”Poonam also questioned whether she and her colleagues, after spending decades in the film industry, could realistically be accused of betraying the organisation. She concluded, “We have been in this industry for 42 years… some for 45 years, others have been a part of it for 48 years. Do you really think that after all these years, we would be capable of such betrayal? I want to share something very personal with you. Over the last year or year and a half, there were many times when I felt like quitting the CINTAA executive committee and walking away. It’s because these people made our lives so difficult. There was opposition to every single thing… opposition to every single initiative,” Poonam concluded.
