The Bengali film industry, though regional in nature, is highly acclaimed within our country as well as throughout the world. Oscar winner Satyajit Ray was a foremost contributor to this phenomenon. Doyens like Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha also played significant roles in it. The industry nurtured artistes par excellence, namely Kanan Devi, Pramathesh Barua, Chhabi Biswas, Tulsi Chakraborty, Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Soumitra Chatterjee, and Sharmila Tagore, among others. Present generation directors like Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Gautam Ghosh, Aparna Sen, Nabyendu Chatterjee and Rituparno Ghosh have upheld the high standards.

But behind this façade of glamour lie the hardships of unnoticed thousands - the technicians and artistes forming the body and soul of the Bengali film industry. There exists a huge disparity in the living conditions of them and the privileged few. The first step in the right direction was taken when they started a joint movement on 12th May, 1997, for rectifying numerous anomalies in the functioning of Kolkata Doordarshan. The movement's resounding success led to further agitations launched for the betterment of Bengali film industry and over time, the necessity of a strong platform to help their cause was felt.

This led to the formation of Eastern India Cinetel Welfare Trust on November 7, 1997 at Saturday Club, Kolkata, with 31 Trustees. A Corpus Fund was created with a contribution of Rs. 1100/- from each Trustee. Actor Soumitra Chatterjee, Director Pranab Chaudhuri, and Cinematographer Soumendu Roy are the elected Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. At present, there are 58 Trustees consisting of eminent artistes and technicians.