11 August,2026 12:51 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Padmini Kolhapure and Poonam Dhillon (Picture via Instagram)
Poonam Dhillon has responded to allegations levelled by eight elected members of the Cine and TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA), who recently resigned from the Executive Committee and called for fresh elections. The members claimed they had lost confidence in the association's functioning and alleged that key decisions were increasingly being controlled by CINTAA President Poonam Dhillon, Senior Vice President Padmini Kolhapure and some committee members. CINTAA had mentioned that the EC was fully functional despite the resignations.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Poonam rejected the allegations and defended the work she and Padmini have been doing for the organisation. She said their efforts were focused on strengthening CINTAA and supporting its members rather than gaining personally from their positions.
"Padmini and I are working hard to bring goodwill to CINTAA by using our resources and contacts; it is not for personal gain. No one else was taking initiatives to do anything for members of the organisation, so I'm shocked by their allegations," she said.
Poonam also addressed concerns surrounding CAWT (Cine Artistes' Welfare Trust), a trust established by senior actors including the late Dilip Kumar, Amrish Puri and Amjad Khan. According to her, the trust has not done enough to provide medical facilities to artistes and members.
"These members were trying to protect CAWT, a trust formed by senior actors like late Dilip Kumar, Amrish Puri and Amjad Khan and others. This trust has not fulfilled its duty to provide medical facilities for members. In the past few decades, no one on the current committee has raised money for CAWT," Poonam claimed.
She further defended a recent fundraising event organised for CINTAA, saying it generated significant funds for the association. Poonam explained that several artistes performed without charging a fee and were later given gifts as a token of appreciation.
"We recently raised funds through an event and gifted sarees to artistes like Kavita Krishnamurthy and Madhushree and a kurta to Nitin Mukesh, who performed without charging us," she said.
Addressing criticism over the gifts, she added, "The members who resigned are accusing us of buying sarees, did we buy those sarees for ourselves? We acknowledge that these artistes performed for us at no cost, through these gifts."
Poonam said the artistes had performed as a favour after she and Padmini personally approached them. She also highlighted the amount raised through the event, saying, "We raised Rs 1 crore through these performances, so how is it a problem if we spend Rs 1 lakh on gifts for them?"
The eight members who resigned are Hemant Pandey, Mukesh Rishi, Sahila Chadha, Heta Parmar, Puneet Issar, Vindu Dara Singh, Vikas Verma and Deepak Parashar. Their resignations were submitted to CINTAA General Secretary Upasana Singh.
"Out of our 11 members, eight elected members have resigned and submitted their resignations to me. They have also submitted their complaints, stating that Padmini Kolhapure and Poonam Dhillon are misusing their positions," Upasana told ANI.
