Lockdown diaries: Omung Kumar auctioning his sketches to raise funds for a pawfect cause

Filmmaker Omung Kumar reveals he started making a new series of 12 paintings for his next exhibition, but after the lockdown was declared, he decided to auction them and raise funds for animals.

Filmmaker Omung Kumar’s love for animals is pretty evident from the beautiful paintings he has been making these days, which gives a striking impression of nature and wildlife. And to feed thousands of stray animals amid the lockdown, Kumar is auctioning these paintings on social media to raise funds for Animals Matter To Me (AMTM), an NGO working for animal welfare. Making one painting each day, Kumar, 53, is on a spree and “is going to continue this till the lockdown is over”.

Omung Kumar raised Rs 10 lakh in a day by selling five of his paintings.

He tells us, “I started this new series of 12 paintings for my next exhibition and after the lockdown, my wife Vanita and I were concerned for the stray animals in the Film City and across Mumbai. Thousands of animals are left to fend for themselves amid the lockdown. So we thought why not raise funds by auctioning these paintings.

As one of the board members of the NGO, the filmmaker decided to do his bit for the animals. “The organisation makes tons of food daily to feed stray animals and provide medical help to the stray animals across Mumbai, and also at the rehabilitation centre and cage less sanctuary with all kinds of domestic animals.”

Kumar raised Rs 10 lakh in a day by selling five of the paintings and donations, and the number keeps rising. “Somebody is buying it for lakhs, somebody for Rs 2 lakh and some are also paying Rs 25,000. Some of them have already booked the artwork and after the lockdown, I’m going to frame it and send it to them,” says the Mary Kom director, whose paintings so far have been bought by actors Shama Sikander, Kashmera Shah, and filmmaker Boney Kapoor among others.

As he sits down to create the artwork, he is always accompanied by his beautiful cats and one can see glimpses through his social media posts. “My house is a house of cats. There are four in-house cats — Gori, Chooti, Chotu and Piku. They sit on my sketches and don’t allow me to work. There are around 14 cats outside that keep visiting us and some roam in the balcony, some on the terrace, or at the front yard,” he shares.

At the work front, Kumar is working on the four scripts but with so much uncertainty about the showbiz business, he says, “Only when things open up, we’ll be able to decide how to go forward. Everybody’s dates will be a problem. People will think twice before spending and prefer to make projects for the OTT than theatres. Even the audience would think twice before going to the theatres.”