Mumbai, Jul 20 (IANS): Filmmaker, art director and anchor Omung Kumar has a soft side for dogs, especially strays and abandoned ones. It is because of this that he agreed to design the 2019 calendar for an NGO committed to welfare of animals.

Animal Matters To Me (AMTM) works towards the welfare of cats, dogs, birds and more. Omung and his wife Vanita have been supporting the organisation for the past eight years.

On being approached to design this year's calendar, Omung agreed as he believes that with this association, he could express his love for dogs. He went ahead to paint the actual rescues in the AMTM rehab facility.

"Vanita is hands-on attached with AMTM's. The work they both do for our four-legged friends is commendable. So when they asked me whether I would be interested in designing this year's calendar, I readily agreed.

"I wanted to make it special and not just use photographs to make the calendar. And the thought of painting each and every picture in my style dawned on me to make it more special. So I'm back to my old love which is painting," Omung said in a statement.

By selling these calendars, they would be helping AMTM and all the animals that are there. After that, Omung plans to auction the original paintings too, he said.

All the proceeds generated from the 10,000 printed copies will go to the AMTM rehab centre here and the upcoming sanctuary in Kolad, Maharashtra. Each sold calendar will aid five animals in need.