Nabaneeta Dev Sen
Writer
If I’m asked to talk about my passion, then I will say it’s for animals. I have always been fond of them, though I have never been involved in any propaganda programme like many other people, but my house has always unofficially been a shelter for strays. I have three dogs at home called Niranjana Turturiya Devi, Krishnendu Keltush Deb and Bhutumlal Bhutoria Deb. However, sometimes I feel bad that I don’t do enough for them. My para dogs always greet me whenever I step out of home or come back at night, and at times I feel like they are admonishing me for being late. Though I was involved with an NGO a long time ago, these days I only feed a couple of my street cats.

Goutam Haldar
Filmmaker
In Bhalo Theko, my protagonist talks about elemental love. She loves everything around her— her house, the garden, the river and even the fallen leaves strewn across her lawn. Same is the case with me. I know some people may consider the love for inanimate objects somewhat trivial, but I feel it’s impossible not to feel emotionally attached to things around me. If I can’t love things that make my life, how can I be considered to be a creative individual?

Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborty
Filmmaker
I am really passionate about seeing a world without any kind of discrimination, a passion that has found an inroad into my work. I have always been vocal about certain issues like gender discrimination, caste and class discrimination and all my films deal with those. I have realised that it’s the only way that I can make people aware of what I sincerely believe in. But it’s not just my film, even my columns and my writings deal with that. I even sit and daydream about seeing a world without any caste or creed. It may seem very cliched, stereotypical and fashionable to say such things, but for me it’s true. In my case I have been fortunate enough to translate my passion, my causes and my issues into my work.