Veteran actors Anil Dhawan, Aron Bali, Kiran Kumar, Pankaj Dheer, Ratna Pathak Shah, Smita Jayekar, Neena Kulkarni, Anita Kanwal were honoured with the CINTAA Hall of Fame awards at its 62nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) recently.
The Cine and TV Artistes Association (CINTAA) is one of the leading and most recognized associations for the performers community in India and an affiliate of the International Federation of Actors (FIA). The members present on the dais were Darshan Jariwala (Vice President), Amit Behl (Hon General Secretary), Rajeshwari Sachdev (Sr. Joint Secretary), Abhay Bhargava (Treasurer) Sanjay Bhatia (Joint Secretary) along with other EC members Tina Ghai, Jaya Bhattacharya, Hetal Parmar, Ravi Jhankal, Deepak Qazir, Rashid Mehta, Ghanshyam Srivastav and Vikas Verma.
A tribute was given to deceased CINTAA members Siddharth Shukla, Ghanshyam Nayak, Arvind Trivedi, Nitin Malhotra, Baldev Trehan, Madhavi Gogate-Barve, Mushtaq Merchant, Arun Verma, Ramesh Deo, Sanjay Kumar, Ajay Kumar Sharma, Akash Nath, Shiv Subramaniam, Manju Singh, Arun Khanna and Salim Ghouse.
Pankaj Dheer, Chairman of Cine Artists Welfare Trust shared the good news of the receipt of the final occupancy certificate of the CINTAA Tower building. He also added that work was on to create a state-of-the-art Auditorium and a cafeteria besides other amenities. The bid was to generate maximum revenue from the building and lease, and the rentals would be for the welfare and well-being of CINTAA members, he divulged.
During the course of the meeting, nearly an hour was spent answering a volley of questions raised by CINTAA members. From casting issues, to non-timely payments to actors, from health and safety to hygiene protocols, substandard food served on the sets to lack of transport facilities, each grievance was taken up by the Hon Gen Secretary Amit Behl in the most honest and healthy manner, ensuring that the executive committee’s recognition of the multiple challenges endured by actors was felt by the members and that they shall spare no effort to iron out the glitches. He also categorically stated that unity is strength and that the association must put up a collective fight.
While CINTAA have always approached the Channels, Producers’ Association and producers to find ways to mitigate the troubles of their members, there have not been too many encouraging responses. The association stays committed to fight every issue. OTT is a growing platform for actors to get work and though CINTAA under its governing laws cannot function as a casting agent, they will certainly explore options as a facilitator. They also mentioned that CINTAA is ready to fight for residuals and royalties for their members.
Reaching out to the Government be it I & B, Labour, Cultural or even Finance would be an ongoing process, soliciting support and assistance from FIA would be an added effort. Since CINTAA has an MOU with FWICE they will also take FWICE’s support on joint and common issues.
The Annual General Meeting approved all of the resolutions on the agenda.
