He has always been a political person, he says. His father was an active Shiv Sena supporter and he attended several public meetings of Balasaheb Thackeray in his youth. However, the constituency he has landed is not the one where he has spent his childhood, where he continues to live and where he claims to know the pulse of the residents, Dadar in central Mumbai. It is from Mumbai North West that he will be fighting instead, on the city’s western suburbs, home to a curious mix of filmdom’s elite, the old moneyed gentry, south Indians and many slums. Sitting MP and Congress leader Gurudas Kamat is a serious contender, while Aam Aadmi Party’s Mayank Gandhi holds a lot of promise. Maverick Rakhi Sawant and Kamal R. Khan, the dubious celebrity known for his provocative tweets, are adding up more spice to the electoral contest. Critics say Manjrekar’s chances of winning are thin; he may at best cut into the Shiv Sena votes, an allegation Raj Thackeray is having to face—of fielding candidates in Mumbai only to spite cousin Uddhav. In MH27, Gajanan Kirtikar will be flying the flag for Sena.