Actor-Director Manahar Kumar: The Love For Cinema Remains The Essence Behind Everything I Do

Manahar Kumar, a BAFTA newcomer, multiple student EMMY Award winning filmmaker and actor, started off by performing stage plays in his hometown Chandigarh. Once he moved out, he did his mass communication and ended up taking his love for storytelling ahead by doing his Masters at Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Atlanta. 

During his time there, he learnt to master the art of acting, directing and writing – to be both in front of the camera, and behind it. He won his first student Emmy for his 2018 short film ‘Kya Dekh Raha Hai?’, a story based on the lives of kids who sell alcohol bottles for survival. Interestingly, he has starred in classics like The Night of January 16, The Mousetrap and 12 Angry Men, on stage. Nonetheless, the actor-director’s filmography is nothing short of extraordinary. 

With several accolades to his credit, both in India and internationally, Manahar Kumar looks back at his journey so far, and reveals his plans for the future, in an exclusive chat with Outlook India. 

Excerpts from the interview:

From the theatre stage of Chandigarh to a BAFTA newcomer, your journey has been incredible. What would you say was the turning point?

As I hear this question, it sort of hits me and makes me realise the long path and yet it still feels like the beginning. It all started in Chandigarh, I was born and brought up there, my first ever play was in school, class 9th, and it was ‘The Lion King’. That’s when the theatre bug bit me and I continued with it.. After school, I applied for engineering, but in two and a half weeks, I realised it is not my cup of tea, and I moved to mass communication. The college had an extravagant theatre background with several troops, and I was a part of all of them. For my Masters, I applied to several colleges globally, but my grandfather had reservations and he came with a foresight and he told me you have been acting since grade 9, so now go behind the lens, and learn directing and writing, develop these skill sets. It was then with a very heavy heart that I decided to go to The Savannah College of Art and Design, but my naive mind did not realise that I was surrounded by filmmakers and they always need actors. My growth during that time in college was exponential, I was acting, directing, doing pilot productions, making them and it was extremely beautiful. So much so that my short films there fetched me the Student Emmy award, both as an actor and a director. It also led me to work with the greats in the industry, and I climbed the ranks higher and higher. 

You are a writer, and a multiple Emmy award winning director-actor. How do you dabble amongst the three? 

I, very early in my life, realised that people like to put me in a box, in terms of a narrative. But I know that there are so many multi-hyphenated artists that I look up to. You can dabble yourself in different roles but at the end, you are just telling a story. I look at it that way. On a realistic note, I have been auditioning for roles that I want to be part of. I am developing stories from this current feature that I am pitching across India and the world. There's another feature of my great grandmother’s partition story from Pakistan, and as a director, the work is limited. In terms of choosing between the three, acting is my first and foremost love with the theatre bug biting me to writing and directing. It has been a gradual growth, from me in front of the camera to going behind it. 

Apart from Emmy and the BAFTA, your projects have been appreciated at multiple film festivals. What’s been your key takeaway?

Both the Emmy and the BAFTA have opened so many doors that I have been in room with casting directors of insane shows like ‘Ted Lasso’, and hearing from their experiences. It has been eye opening to be around legends who have been masters of their work. I have been in a couple of acting rooms, with the acting coach of Bradley Cooper, who worked with him on ‘Maestro’, and all this happened in the past couple of weeks. It makes you introspect and makes you realise yourself, making you keenly aware of the roles you want to work on. For festivals, with each one of them, I have been grateful for them. The great validations, I don’t take them to heart and my head too seriously, but I am humbled. That’s my prayer that it leads to extremely exciting stories that can be told to the world.  

After acting on-stage in classics like ‘The Night of January 16’, ‘The Mousetrap’ and others, you featured in Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’ and web show ‘Made In Heaven’. How was the shift from theatre to Bollywood?

It has been a great journey, and it has led me to a journey to realise the epicness and the scale of a film like ‘Jawan’. And yet, it is about the director, the story and the person in front of the camera. ‘Made In Heaven’ too was a well-oiled machine with Zoya Akhtar at the helm of it all. It is extremely process driven, and I have learnt so much from each project and each set, learning what works for all of us and what works for me in the longer run. These lessons I would love to apply into the stories that I could be narrating in the near future, for the love of making movies. That remains the essence and I do what I do.

Are you keen to take to acting in Bollywood?

I am keen to take forward acting in Bollywood, as well as Hollywood. I very early on realised to not restrict myself in one box. I am curious about different languages as well, to explore the palette out there, and also produce work under my banner, Untied Laces. I want to be able to give voice to filmmakers as well, especially females, who have a voice that have a worldview that is far away from the man’s gaze. Both the features that I have written have female protagonists. One is of a relationship between a grandfather and a granddaughter, called Baba Nights. I have pitched it in a lot of places, and there’s Ammi, based on my grandmother’s partition travels, which is so close to my heart. There’s another one, exploring a school girl in grade 7 and her relationship dynamic with a boy expelled from school, it is still untitled. They have made me curious about the female gaze, about their worldview. I am thankful to be surrounded by females who have inculcated a high emotional quotient in me, high empathy in me and it has stayed with me. It makes me curious about stories from females, because the world needs it now. It is not survival of the fittest, but the survival of the kindest. 

Where do you see yourself in years to come?

I look forward to 2024 with collaborations that are not only at whim and fancy, but are with a soul that can communicate beyond the audio visual medium. I want to take forward my banner, undertake stories in India, in the US and other countries, and act globally. Be picky but work with people I can trust blindly, and work on stories that need to be told. Looking forward to balancing everything apart from setting up a school, and a foundation.