After acting, Abhay Deol has found his second calling - philanthropy

Abhay Deol is a passionate man. Besides movies, there is another thing the Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara actor has developed fervor for.

No, we are not referring to his actress girlfriend Preity Desai, but the four NGO's that he vouches for Video Volunteers, Butterflies, The Climate Project and Wildlife SOS.

The reclusive actor, who normally eludes media, chats excitedly about his intention to create awareness and bring about positive change with the help of these organisations.

He says, "It's not that I am superrich and can give money for it. The next best thing is to be a volunteer."

Here is what he told us about his fantastic four...

Video-calling

Abhay was first introduced to the Video Volunteers at Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference in Mysore, where he had gone to speak about filmmaking and social change. "Jessica (the woman behind the NGO) liked my speech and told me that her organisation trains people to shoot videos and edit.

They make 3 to 5-minute long films on issues that affect people and their community, and they use those cuts to create changes. I loved the idea and went for their training events in Gujrat, Bombay and Goa. I have been associated with them for a year and a half. I had also taken Imtiaz for one of their screenings in Chembur, " he informs.

For something green

Abhay is doing his green bit for the environment with The Climate Project. "I am trying to spread awareness about compost bins and how we can reduce output of garbage from our homes, " he says.

Where the kids are

The actor found Butterflies on the internet. "They do children development banking. They basically encourage street kids to put aside a little bit of their daily earnings into a bank and earn monthly interest. They also have mobile schools. So they actually drive to where the kids are."

Let's rescue

Wildlife SOS, who are into animal rescue is another NGO that Abhay is keen on supporting actively in future but hasn't had the time to. He is in the process of writing a script for them, apparently, for one of their short documentaries.

We ask the young deol...

So, why did he pick these NGOs?

The ideas appealed to me. Video Volunteers empowers people to express. Similarly, Butterflies empowers kids. The Climate Project empowers people to adopt compost bins. It's important for me that an NGO does something to empower someone and try to bring about positive change.

Most B-Townies do charity. Has it become a fad?

"I don't mind fads that bring about change for better. Whether you are doing it as a fad or you mean it, the point is your participation is going to go towards something positive. Unfortunately, volunteers for a lot of these NGO's are from abroad.

Barring Butterflies, none of these NGO's has Indian volunteers. Sadly, people don't volunteer from our country as much as people do abroad.

What do you have to say about Baba Ramdev?

I don't know if he is doing this for his personal gain or what, but the fact is what he is saying is not false. There is a lot of black money. If that comes back into our economy it would be beneficial to us all.

I don't know what his personal agenda is but I'd still support what he says. However, I am not his disciple. Being a yoga guru and not a politician he might be a bit naive and making huge demands. He is a yoga guru and maybe not aware of intricacies.