CINTAA (Cine and TV Artists Association) now has its own home

Asha Parekh inaugurated “CINTAA Tower” in the presence of Subhash Ghai, Jackie Shroff, Pankaj Tripathi, and other film personalities.

Dussehra i.e. Vijaya Dashami means the day to celebrate 'victory'. This year, the festival of Vijay Dashami on 24th October was truly a victory day for 'Cine and TV Artist Association (CINTAA)'. Because of the long struggle and efforts of many artists. After all, on 24th October, Tuesday, the day of Vijaya Dashami, 'CINTAA' got its 'CINTAA Tower', which was inaugurated by Dadasaheb Phalke Award-winning actress Asha Parekh, at that time Subhash Ghai along with the executive members of 'CINTAA', Many film personalities including Jackie Shroff, Pankaj Tripathi, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Govind Namdev, Varun Wadola were present.

Although in India, Dada Saheb Phalke started making films in 1913. But after independence, the production of films in the country increased very fast. But the artists were not getting much money. Then some artists associated with the film industry started the Cine and TV Artists Association (CINTAA), an organization of artists in the film industry in 1958. Gradually the number of its members increased. This organization started making efforts to provide financial help to every artist in times of trouble.

Then came the day when actor Dilip Kumar thought that the 'CINTAA' organization should have its own tower i.e. its own residence. Then in 1991, Cine Artists Welfare Trust was founded by veteran Indian cinema actors Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Amjad Khan, and Asha Parekh. The main objective of this trust was that the artists' organization of the industry should have its own tower. And, with continuous hard work, the grand tower of CINTAA was built. For this, first Sajjan Kumar and then Amjad Khan made efforts to collect funds for the 'CINTAA Tower'. But the matter did not progress much further. After that, Mithun Chakraborty along with some artists went to many countries including America and England, and did charity shows, from which around Rs 5 crore were collected. By depositing these in the bank, the interest on them was used to help artists financially.

Inaugurating ‘CINTAA Tower', Asha Parekh said, 'Amjad (Khan) Bhai founded the Cine Artist Welfare Trust in 1991. Amrish Puri worked very hard for this. Whenever one had to go to some minister for land, Amrish Bhai used to come to my house at seven in the morning and take me along to the minister. We had to struggle a lot to get to this place. Once we got the land, we organized several programs to collect money. I am very happy today.''

These veteran cinema actors had earlier secured a plot near Juhu-Versova Link Road for Cinta Tower, but due to CRZ rules, this land had to be returned, and in return, four bungalows in Andheri a land near Kokilaben Hospital were made available. Dilip Kumar, Aamir Khan, and Johnny Lever participated in the Bhoomi Poojan program for the construction of the tower in 2011.

On this occasion, actor Ravi Jhankal said - "When its Bhoomi Poojan was held, I was in the executive of 'Cinta'. So my wish was that this building should be built during my lifetime. Today it has been built. This is the biggest happiness for me. I am thankful to the present executive."

Expressing his happiness over the construction of the tower, CINTAA General Secretary Amit Bahl said, 'Our veteran artists did not just dream, but in their efforts to realize their dreams, they kept the welfare of the artists associated with their industry paramount. We are feeling honored because of the hard work done by Asha Parekh, Johnny Lever, Dilip Kumar, and our own committee. As good a musician as he was, he also had an equally generous heart. Seeing the efforts of all of them, as a tribute to all such great stars, we have given them a place in the 'Wall of Fame' of Cinta Tower.

Deepak Kajir said- “Today is indeed a very happy day. Today is the day of Vijaya Dashami. Their target was that the organization should get it today. The hard work of many people has been behind this. Amrish Puri ji, Amjad Khan, Asha Parekh, Dara Singh, Madan Puri, etc. have made a huge contribution. Today this dream has been fulfilled.”

Tina Ghai said- “Today, on the auspicious day of Vijaya Dashami, our ‘Cinta Tower’ has been inaugurated. We have lost a lot. Many people including Dilip Kumar, and Asha Parekh have put in hard work in this. We are grateful to all those who worked hard earlier and gave us the land and to those who have worked hard to build it till now.

Johnny Lever said- “Today the inauguration of ‘Cinta Tower’ is a big thing for all of us artists. Our old dream has been fulfilled. It happened in our presence, it is a matter of pride. We got an opportunity to do something in this, what could be bigger than this? We are grateful to those who supported us in this noble cause.

In the inauguration ceremony of this grand and magnificent tower of CINTAA, Subhash Ghai, Raj Babbar, Jackie Shroff, Johnny Lever, Ila Arun, Boman Irani, Amol Gupte, Pankaj Tripathi, Govind Namdev, Ranjit Kapoor, Shyam Kaushal, Ranveer Shorey, Seema Pahwa, Many stalwarts of the industry like Preeti Sapru, Shishir Sharma, Nandita Puri, Manoj Joshi, Amit Bahl, Preeti Sapru, Darshan Jariwala, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Ayub Khan, Tina Ghai, Mukesh Chhabra, Jaya Bhattacharya, Abhay Bhargava was present.

Shantiswarup Tripathi