Shabana Azmi, Farhan Akhtar, Archana Puran Singh, Arjun Bijlani

CINTAA says Shabana Azmi and Farhan Akhtar, among others, have come forward to help
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 8, 2020)

With India in a 21-day lockdown due to Coronavirus, shoots have come to a standstill, impacting the lives of daily wage film and TV artists. Now, the Cine and TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) has appealed to its A-list members for help with ration and funds. “CINTAA has a very limited corpus as we are not a cash-rich association. Our charitable sister trust, the Cine Artist Welfare Trust (CAWT), is also running dry,” informs actor Amit Behl, senior joint secretary and chairperson of the association’s Outreach Committee.

Amit goes on to inform that 70 per cent of the workforce in film, TV and digital shows are daily wage actors. “We have not appealed to anybody but our own fraternity to help,” he stated, adding that Shabana Azmi, Farhan Akhtar and Archana Puran Singh, among others, have came forward to help. Arjun Bijlani has also contributed packages of ration. “The condition of daily wage actors is far worse than that of daily wage workers in the film industry. We have approached Red Chillies (Shah Rukh Khan’s production house), Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan and Salman Khan’s foundation for help. One needs to clarify that their help to daily wage workers doesn’t reach daily wage actors,” he sighs.

Amit explains that CINTAA is not affiliated to FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees), which is why contributions made by the latter don’t reach them. “I am getting calls from actors to help with basic necessities. From our limited corpus, we have transferred Rs 2000 each to the registered members,” he concludes.