CINTAA to take strict action against Shilpa's defamation move

Mumbai: Cine and Television Artistes' Association (CINTAA) has called for an emergency meeting to take a call on Shilpa Shinde after the actress filed a defamation case against the heads of three industry associations. Shilpa filed a defamation case yesterday against the chairman of Indian Films and TV producers' council (IFTPC) Harry Baweja, chairman and member of Federation of western India cine employees (FWICE) Dilip Pithva and Sushant Singh of CINTAA. The actress has claimed that she had informed the producers of the serial "Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hain" that she was undergoing a treatment, and therefore could not shoot for the serial.

However, IFTPC, CINTAA and FWICE "banned" her from working anywhere else, and warned of action against any production house if it employed her. "I have called for an emergency meeting of my association today. We will figure out with our legal advisor what to do. Right now our elections are coming in April, today is the last day for nomination. Why would she choose to do this thing at such a time, is beyond me," Singh told PTI. "I am totally at loss as to what she actually wants. If she wants to (continue to) be a member of the association she has to follow the rules, behave professionally. She has now forced us to take some strict actions," he says.

Singh says he was surprised to know about the defamation case, which has been filed more than a year after a letter, "banning" her to work with other production houses, was issued. "I am quite surprised and amused because whatever letter and order we passed was more than a year back. Post that she gave statements defaming our associations and we asked our lawyer to file a civil suit of defamation against her and right now it is in the pre-hearing stage. "We had issued a show cause notice to her that you're not following the regulations, why should we not take action against you. She never replied to that notice, so we could've expelled her from the association. But we thought she is a good actress and our member.

We didn't want to be too harsh," he says. Shipla alleged that the associations had imposed a "ban" on her though they have no such power and had warned of action against any production house which employed her, following which she lost some big projects. Singh says they issued a letter to members of the association after they found out Shilpa breached her exclusive contract while working on "Bhabhiji..." He says they had asked her, either to compensate for the losses to the producers, or they will be "forced to tell other members of the fraternity not to engage with her for services." Singh, however, says these letter were "symbolic" and even after issuing them, the actress did work on certain projects which nobody ever stopped her from.