Upasana Singh Says CINTAA Minutes Were Tampered With And Only Poonam Dhillon And Padmini Kolhapure Got The Credit

A major internal rift within the Cine and TV Artistes Association CINTAA has come into the spotlight, with former General Secretary Upasana Singh making a series of serious allegations about the functioning of the association and its dissolved committee. During a press conference attended by several prominent industry members, Upasana spoke at length about resignations, alleged manipulation of meeting records, publicity and the use of CINTAA resources.

Addressing the media, Upasana said the situation was ultimately a battle between truth and falsehood. She pointed to the resignation of several prominent members, including Vindu Dara Singh, Puneet Issar, Manoj Joshi, Mukesh Rishi, Hemant Pandey, Deepak Parashar, Vikas Verma and Sahila Chaddha, arguing that such mass resignations could not simply be dismissed as an ordinary disagreement within the organisation.

According to Upasana, the resignations led to the dissolution of the committee under the association’s constitutional provisions. She said she personally did not resign because fellow artists asked her to remain in place to formally receive the resignation letters. She further stated that the documents were submitted to the Labour Commissioner and that an email was subsequently received confirming the committee’s dissolution.

The most striking part of Upasana’s address, however, came when she discussed allegations surrounding the recording of meeting minutes. Responding to claims that she did not know how to prepare minutes, Upasana said she initially had no understanding of terms such as “minutes” or “EGM” when she joined the organisation. However, she claimed that she gradually learned how the process worked and began noticing discrepancies in how discussions were recorded.

According to Upasana, the General Secretary does not actually prepare the minutes and that the responsibility lies with the staff. She alleged that important comments and suggestions made by committee members were sometimes left out of the official records. She specifically claimed that the minutes repeatedly highlighted the names of Poonam-ji and Padmini-ji while other members’ contributions were not properly reflected. “I used to insist that if Poonam-ji, Upasana-ji, or Sayla-ji said something, it should be recorded; yet, that wasn't done,” Upasana said while explaining her concerns about the minutes.

She went on to make another pointed allegation regarding the organisation’s public-facing communication and photographs from meetings with ministers. Upasana claimed that although several committee members attended such meetings, the CINTAA portal predominantly featured photographs of Poonam and Padmini.

“But whose photographs got published? You can check the CINTAA portal—Padmini-ji was its head. Only photographs of Poonam-ji and Padmini-ji would appear. These people are witnesses; they can tell you what actually happened. If another actor’s photograph was included, it would be cropped out.”

The comments became one of the strongest moments of Upasana’s press conference, as she questioned whether CINTAA was being used primarily for the welfare of its thousands of members or for individual publicity. She alleged that press conferences and promotional activities were organised using funds belonging to CINTAA actors, while certain individuals received disproportionate visibility.

Upasana recalled an incident involving a press conference connected to “Raj Kapoor Night” and alleged that members of the Executive Committee were not properly invited. She claimed that she had specifically suggested consulting the entire EC before deciding on the timing, but later received a call from the media informing her that the press conference was already taking place at the CINTAA office.

According to her account, the situation became even more contentious when some members arrived at the office and allegedly found the hall doors closed. Upasana said Deepak Parashar was also present and could confirm what happened.

The former General Secretary then shifted the focus to what she described as the more important question: what tangible benefits were delivered to CINTAA actors during their tenure? She questioned whether working hours had been reduced, whether payment delays had been addressed or whether meaningful improvements had been achieved for members.

“Just name two or three things they achieved for the welfare of CINTAA members during our two-and-a-quarter-year tenure. Did we manage to reduce their working hours from 12–14 hours? Did we ensure that payments, which used to take three months, started coming in within one month? What exactly did we do? I want them to answer this question.”

Upasana also criticised what she described as publicity-driven initiatives, including arrangements for actors to audition at Mukesh Chhabra’s office. She questioned whether such arrangements could genuinely be considered major welfare achievements, particularly when actors can independently approach casting offices for auditions.

She further questioned the emphasis placed on facilities such as air conditioning and security during such visits, asking whether CINTAA members should be portrayed as people requiring special treatment simply to attend an audition.

The press conference also addressed claims surrounding the Memorandum of Understanding. Upasana rejected the allegation that she and Deepak Parashar had arbitrarily dissolved the committee to prevent an MOU from being completed. She argued that the relevant court-mandated MOU already stipulated that funds were intended exclusively for CINTAA actors and their families.

Her larger argument was that the internal conflict should not be reduced to personalities or individual disagreements. For Upasana, the issue concerns governance, transparency, accountability and whether the association’s resources and communication channels are being used in the best interests of its members.

The controversy has now placed CINTAA’s internal functioning under intense scrutiny, with several established actors publicly taking positions and the dispute spilling into the media. Upasana’s allegations regarding meeting minutes, publicity and the use of organisational resources are likely to remain central to the debate as the association navigates the fallout from the committee’s dissolution.

For now, Upasana has made her position clear: she believes the focus should return to the thousands of actors who form the association and the practical benefits they receive from it. Her sharpest criticism centred on whether visibility and publicity were being mistaken for genuine welfare — a question that could continue to fuel the ongoing CINTAA controversy.

Facebook Comments