Poonam Dhillon has been the President of CINTAA since May 2024. She has been elected as President for the term from 2024 to 2027.
Eight prominent Executive Committee members of the Cine & TV Artists Association (CINTAA), including Puneet Issar, Mukesh Rishi, and Vindu Dara Singh, have resigned, citing a complete loss of faith in the leadership and demanding fresh elections.
In a joint resignation letter, the members including Hemant Pandey, Sahila Chadha, Hetal Parmar, Vikas Verma, and Deepak Parashar alleged that CINTAA’s operations have been monopolized by President Poonam Dhillon, Vice President Padmini Kolhapure, and a select few. They claimed key decisions were routinely made without committee approval, bypassing constitutional rules.
In response, President Poonam Dhillon strongly defended the leadership, calling the allegations against her and Kolhapure “highly objectionable.” This sudden mass resignation has triggered a major internal crisis within the association.
What allegations did the resigning members make?
According to a Times of India report, a part of the resignation letter allegedly stated,
President Poonam Dhillon has repeatedly made unilateral decisions. She has sent official messages to government officials using her own ID and has also made sole decisions on messages sent to industry organizations using CINTAA’s official ID.
The letter further stated,
They represented the association before the government, quasi-judicial, and industry bodies, and in public, without the knowledge, advice, and approval of the Executive Committee. This weakened the principle of collective responsibility.
CINTAA General Secretary Upasana Singh had confirmed the resignations to ANI. She had said that a total of 11 members had resigned, including 8 members of the executive committee.
Upasana Singh had said,
They have also submitted their complaints. They say that Padmini Kolhapure and Poonam Dhillon are misusing their positions.
However, the association’s legal advisor clarified that the executive committee has not been dissolved.
Poonam said – could have filed a defamation case
Poonam Dhillon rejected the allegations made against her. Speaking to ANI, she said,
The thing was that things were not happening according to them. They were trying to control CINTAA members through CAWT (Cine Artists Welfare Trust). When that didn’t happen, they started making strange and serious allegations against us.
Poonam expressed displeasure over the language of the allegations and said,
You won’t believe how obscene the allegations were. They were so objectionable that if we wanted, we could have considered taking defamation action against every person involved. Such allegations, hurtful statements, and objectionable language were widely spread.
Poonam Dhillon has worked in many films like Noorie (1979), Trishul (1978), Sohni Mahiwal (1984).
Poonam said that this controversy had an emotional impact on her and she thought about resigning from the executive committee many times. She said that two or three people, whom she called paid spokespersons, used to say similar things.
She said that one or two of them were also CINTAA members. They made very inappropriate and hurtful statements. Still, we chose to remain silent.
Poonam called self-respect the most important thing
Poonam said that I would just like to say one thing. My self-respect and honesty are very important to me. What we have earned over some years, we haven’t earned in one or two years. We have built our reputation and self-respect over decades through our behavior, dignity, presence, and the way we interact and communicate with people.
In another interview with Hindustan Times, Poonam said that she and Padmini are using their resources and connections to build goodwill for CINTAA. She said that the aim is not personal gain.
Poonam said that no one else was taking the initiative to do something for the members of the organization, so I am surprised by their allegations.
Clarification on funds raised from CAWT and the event
Poonam said that the resigning members were trying to save CAWT. This trust was founded by the late Dilip Kumar, Amrish Puri, Amjad Khan and other senior artists.
She said that this trust has not fulfilled its responsibility of providing medical facilities to its members. According to Poonam, no member of the current committee has raised funds for CAWT in the last few decades.
She informed that funds were recently raised through an event. Sarees were given to artists Kavita Krishnamurthy and Madhushree who performed at the event, while Nitin Mukesh, who performed without a fee, was given a kurta.
Poonam said,
The members who resigned are accusing us of buying sarees. Did we buy those sarees for ourselves? We acknowledge that these artists performed for us without a fee, which is why these gifts were given to them. Padmini and I personally called them and had them perform at our request. These singers helped CINTAA. We raised 1 crore rupees from these performances. So, if we spend 1 lakh rupees on gifts for the artists, what is the problem with that?
‘I’ve been in the industry for 42 years; could I commit such a betrayal?’
Poonam questioned whether she could be accused of betraying the organization after working in the film industry for decades.
She said,
We have been in this industry for 42 years. Some people have been a part of it for 45 years and some for 48 years. Do you really think that after so many years we can commit such a betrayal? I want to share a very personal thing with you. Many times in the last one or one and a half years, I felt like resigning from the executive committee of CINTAA and separating myself.
Explaining the reason, she said that these people had made our lives very difficult. Everything was opposed. Every initiative was opposed.
FWICE questioned the EGM of August 11
Meanwhile, regarding the ongoing internal dispute in CINTAA, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) warned CINTAA office bearers not to hold the proposed Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on August 11.
FWICE President B.N. Tiwari stated in a letter issued on Monday that after more than 50% of the members of CINTAA’s elected Executive Committee resigned, the committee has been dissolved under the constitution. Citing Clause (F)(iii) of CINTAA’s constitution, FWICE said that if 50% or more elected positions become vacant, the committee is considered dissolved and new elections should be held.
