Yesterday’s dream, today’s reality

Asha Parekh and Shabana Azmi

After over two-and-a-half decades, the office of Cine and TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA) will shift from Karthik Complex in Andheri to the five-storeyed CINTAA Tower in Four Bungalows, Andheri. On October 24, the new building will be inaugurated by veteran actor Asha Parekh. Special invitees include filmmaker Subhash Ghai as the guest of honour, actors Shabana Azmi, Raj Babbar, Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, Pankaj Tripathi, Johnny Lever and Annu Kapoor.

Late Dilip Kumar and Mithun Chakraborty

Amit Behl, who serves as the general secretary of CINTAA, says that yesteryear stars played an active role in making this office a reality. "In 1991, Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Amjad Khan and Asha Parekh set up the Cine Artiste Welfare Trust [CAWT] as a sister concern of CINTAA, to encourage donations for the welfare of artistes. This tower is a CAWT project. Years ago, these stars got a parcel of land on the Juhu-Versova Link Road to build a tower for CINTAA members.
Unfortunately, we had to let go of that land because of the coastal regulation zone, and were given this plot as a replacement. The tower's foundation stone was laid by late Dilip saab and Aamir Khan in 2011. Since Dilip saab played such a crucial role, we wanted Sairaji [Banu] to attend the inauguration, but she is not keeping well," he says.

Had contributed generously for the building

The new address is a state-of-the-art building with a welfare centre, conference rooms, cafeteria, and workshop rooms. A ‘Wall of Fame' in the cafeteria is a reminder of the yesteryear legends in all their glory. Behl adds, "We will create a [similar] wall on the ground floor with pictures of contemporary stars, including Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and so on."