What was once the dream of yesteryear stalwart Dilip Kumar along with other visionaries Sunil Dutt, Amjad Khan, Asha Parekh, Chandrashekhar, Amrish Puri, Dara Singh, Ram Mohan has now turned a reality with the towering CINTAA Tower, a building that will be the permanent address of the Cine & TV Artistes’ Association at Mumbai’s plush suburb Andheri (W).
This move will not just see CINTAA grow from strength to strength with the only union to have its own building equipped with a two-storey auditorium, but also the dream of the yesteryears’ stars has manifested itself into a brick-and-mortar state-of-the-art avatar with a welfare center, conference rooms, cafeteria, workshops et al.
“Our stalwarts did not just dream. They acted on their dreams to safeguard the interests of the artistes working in the film fraternity. Their want to give back was as strong as their passion for the craft. As a tribute those who gave shape to our future are immortalized in a Wall of Fame at CINTAA,” avers Amit Behl, General Secretary, CINTAA.
Amit Behl admits that this is the result of more than four decades of selfless work. “We are fortunate to have artistes who believe in unselfishly helping their fellow actors who need the aid.”
Looking back, he continues, “In 1991, luminaries of Indian cinema including Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Amjad Khan, and Asha Parekh, came together to establish the Cine Artiste Welfare Trust (CAWT), a sister concern of CINTAA. Their mission was to garner support for the welfare of artists in the industry. The genesis of this story is the construction of a tower, a testament to their dedication.
“These cinematic icons secured a plot of land along the Juhu-Versova Link Road for the construction of a tower to benefit CINTAA members. However, due to coastal regulation zone restrictions, they had to relinquish that land. In its stead, a new plot was provided. The foundation stone for the tower was laid in 2011 by the late Dilip Kumar, Aamir Khan and Johny Lever among others.”
The Grand Opening of CINTAA Tower was at the hands of Asha Parekh with Showman Subhash Ghai as The Guest of Honour. The Special Guest was Dr Bharati Lavekar — MLA Versova Constituency, while the Special Invitees included Raj Babbar, Jackie Shroff, Johny Lever, Ila Arun, Boman Irani, Amol Gupte, Pankaj Tripathi, Govind Namdev, Rajit Kapoor, Sham Kaushal, Ranvir Shorey. Seema Pahwa, Anant Mahadevan, Kishori Shahane, Deepak Balraj, Suchitra Pillai, Tej Sapru, Shubha Khote, Bhavna Balsaver, Binaiferr Kohli, Members of IFTPC, WIFPA, Screen Writers’ Association, Robin Bhatt, Vinta Nanda, FWICE, IMPAA, Art Directors Association among others were present. Col KK Puri’s biography of his late father Madan Puri, History of Indian Cinema by Shishir Sharma (2 volumes in Hindi and 1 in English) were also released on the occasion.
Saira Banu, Aamir Khan Farhan Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Suneil Shetty, Farhan Akhtar, Sharman Joshi sent their best wishes for the momentous event.
The members had a special selfie point from where they were treated to a sumptuous meal Late Om Puri’s favourite snacks by Nandita Puri and Ishaan Om Puri Prithvi Soni, Shishir Sharma, Lt Col KK Puri, Nandita Puri, Ishaan Om Puri, Eram Faridi, Gaurav. Chanana among others with the tireless EC Members of CINTAA and CAWT respectively including Manoj Joshi, Amit Behl, Preeti Sapru, Darshan Jariwalla, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Ayub Khan, Tinaa Ghaai, Jaya Bhattacharya Abhay Bhargava, Deepak Qazir Kejriwal, Ravi Jhankal, Sadia Siddiqui et al.
“Actors empower masses to dream. This time, we have empowered our own fraternity and that is truly heartening for each of us that our tireless efforts finally paid off,” concludes Amit Behl.