Johnny Lever speaks about security of artists

Veteran actor and comedian Johnny Lever attended the Cine and Television Artistes Association event where the

CINTAA tower

was inaugurated. Speaking to ETimes, he said, "It is a big thing for us as artists. It was a dream of our seniors that has finally got fulfilled that this tower should be built. A lot of people supported us. It couldn't have been possible without them."
Outlining the challenges faced by

CINTAA

to reach where it stands today,

Johnny

said, "It has progressed a lot.

There was a time when our artists used to help. There was Mr Sajjan who was a very senior artist. He used to do plays. He would contribute from whatever little money he got from the play. This was told to me by senior actor Chandrashekhar."
"There wasn't enough funds in CINTAA. So, many a times artistes would help each other. Amjad Khan always worked hard for artistes and after his death Mithun Chakraborty took over the reigns. He said he wants to do something big for artistes. So like Asha Parekh said, he did a world tour with all artists and we raised Rs 2 crore which was turned into fixed deposit and CINTAA used the interest for welfare of the members," he added.
Johnny also revealed that CINTAA membership has increased. "So, with the CINTAA, we now have tower and power."

Speaking about concerns over security of actors, Johnny said, "CINTAA has a certain budget and if need be, we actors contribute from our pockets."
When asked if CINTAA will appeal to the big names like Amitabh Bachchan and the rest as security of actors is still a big concern, Johnny said, "If the big names had done their bit, we would not have had to do shows to raise funds. But we continue with our mission and whatever we raise for big and small artists, comes to CINTAA."