Police scold Poonam Dhillon, Upasana Singh for ugly fight at film workers' body office: ‘Care about your reputation’

After eight members from CINTAA's Executive Committee resigned citing loss of confidence in leadership, things seem to have gotten worse for the film body.

A fight broke out at the Cine and TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) office in Mumbai between actors, videos of which began circulating on Friday. Poonam Dhillon, Padmini Kolhapure, Upasana Singh, Kunickaa Sadanand and others could be seen in the videos. Police had to intervene, even scolding the actors as they fought among themselves.

Poonam Dhillon, Padmini Kolhapure, Upasana Singh and others were scolded by the police at the CINTAA office.

Video shows ugly fight at film body

After Kunickaa recently alleged that official CINTAA paperwork and files were shifted to Poonam’s vehicle and taken away, a video shows some members confronting Padmini about it. Even as they ask her if she’s admitting to taking the papers, she asks them to show the letter declaring the committee dissolved. The police can be seen trying to tell them all that they’re third parties in the matter and that everyone is the same to them. But Padmini says that their ‘data was stolen’.

In another video, Poonam questions why her car is being searched. The video is supposedly recorded by Kunickaa, whom she gets irritated with, too. When they get into an argument, the police say, “I feel bad for talking like this. We don’t talk like this to even people from the slums.” They also add, “Care about your reputation at least, people are watching. You are hung up on your allegations and not listening to us. Doosra koi rehta tha, thappad hi maarte the. (We would’ve slapped if it were someone else). We are giving you respect, but there’s a limit to it.”

When Upasana asked the police to recall the papers that had already been allegedly sent, one of them said, “It’s not my job. If they have tampered with the papers, the Labour Commission will ask them to produce it.” But the members argued with the police and with one another. Kunickaa keeps pointing out that they’re not allowed access because an election has been called.

The issues with CINTAA

In August, issues within CINTAA came to the fore when 11 members, including 8 elected representatives of the 21-member elected committee, resigned. In a joint letter, the members listed alleged repeated instances of the association moving away from collective decision-making, consultation and constitutional governance. When Upasana stated that, since 50% of the elected panel had resigned, the committee was dissolved, Poonam countered.

Earlier this month, after the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) called for fresh elections, Poonam and Padmini approached the court for a stay order. But their plea was denied. Just a day before the scheduled elections on September 12, allegations have been made about an attempt to smuggle out official documents.