It would still be an underestimation to say that Manahar Kumar doesn’t inhale films to their deepest cores to understand the beauty and creation of this art. While interviewing the exuberant writer, director, and actor, with innumerable accolades to his name, Manahar’s way of describing filmmaking struck us in awe. He has not only worked hard to create for himself the stage he is standing on today, but has unravelled the artistry of film and direction to new avenues.
We offer you to ride this boat of the actor and co-founder of the production house, ‘UnTied Laces’, and Students Emmys Award Winner, Manahar Kumar’s inspirational and beautiful journey of films.
Early Life
The professional English theatre in Chandigarh had its influences on a growing Manahar. Currently, he is pursuing his undergraduate degree from Manipal, South India. The pieces and parts of India built him, his senses, and his creative imagination, which he so fluently incorporates in his movies. Through the years, being a part of classics like The Mousetrap, Mother’s Day, The Night of January 16 and 12 Angry Jurors (Men), he got glimpses of the performing arts. As he says, films became an elixir for him. Films enriched him during his high school days when science studies exhausted him.
Belonging from a family of teachers and educators, Manahar, too, was expected to follow the same line. However, just after 2 and a half weeks in engineering, Manahar took the decision to drop out. It definitely wasn’t in tune with his passions and desires. The question of pursuing a career in films and acting dismantled his family and friends a little. However, his family felt the burning flames in Manahar’s eyes for the path he wanted to pursue. Since then, they’ve had his back throughout.
Filming and acting brought wings to his dreams, something to cherish and desire for. Through experiences in college, in street plays, the stage and shorts, Manahar devoted no less than 10,000 hours to the craft. While in the US, he invested time in observation, reading, and writing, creating scripts and acting in films.
It was not surprising that, with the ultimate belongingness that Manahar Kumar felt with films, he co-founded UnTied Laces, a production house, presenting works of a plethora of genres and crafts.
The Origin of Student Emmys Award Winning: Kya Dekh Raha hai? (What are you looking at?)
Manahar’s short documentary, ‘Kya Dekh Raha Hai? (What are you looking at?) fetched him a Student EMMYs Award and 9 International film festival selections. The origin of this documentary is honest, and a result of Manahar’s creativities and curiosity.
What birthed this short documentary was the Winter of 2017, in the chilly city of Chandigarh, India. While parked in a crowded marketplace, Manahar could hear the cackling of empty alcohol bottles. Curious, he saw a group of poverty-stricken kids with huge white sacks, speaking to an old man in a car. It caught his attention, and questions arose: are they selling drugs? Are they forcefully a part of an underground gang? A couple of weeks later, in the same area, the same thing happened. Manahar drove back home and brought his DSLR and lava mic and started filming the kids. He asked questions from the kids and the truths which came out astonished him. He edited the film in 48 hours, but didn’t release it publicly yet.
Fast forward a few months, he chose Savannah College of Art and Design for his Master of Fine Arts over his life-long dream of Stella Adler School of Acting in New York (which he got selected in. too).
Winter of 2018, in Atlanta, Georgia, he requested Prof. Quinlan O’rear to see the documentary. The professor liked it and said, “This is powerful stuff, Manahar. Are you happy with the edit?”. Manahar made the necessary changes, and got a submission request from his Professor for the Student Emmys Award. May 2018, the news visits him that Kya Dekh Raha Hai? is nominated! And no wonder, the award went to Manahar Kumar!
Achievements and Beyond
During his time at SCAD, he also acted in pilots, thesis films, for SCAD and Columbia University, New York. In 2019, he created a successful crowdfunding campaign for his thesis film — Stardust. He was 1 of 10 finalists selected for the Film Impact Georgia Grant. His latest short documentary, ‘Badlaav Republic’ (Change Republic), currently in the festival circuit, won the “Best International Film” award at the Oregon Documentary Film Festival and “Best Documentary Award” at the Georgia Documentary Film Festival.
As a graduate student at SCAD, he also won the “Most likely to be a renowned actor” Ambassador’s Choice Award and was the lead in SCAD Atlanta’s Pilot Production – What Remains of Emily for which he won the, “Best Actor Award”. Speaking of What Remains of Emily, as Manahar Kumar says, the hours dedicated to writing, reading and observing, moulded in him a meditative cinematic transference, which led to this movie.
Message for Aspiring Actors and Filmmakers
Manahar mentions this very beautiful, yet often ignored aspect of our lives, that the storytelling gene is ingrained in all of us, be it doctors or actors, and has been in us since from when we began cave painting. Sometimes, something as simple as a walk with nature can also be enlightening.
Somewhere between acting in high school and balancing studies, he found the value of acting in his life. “It became synonymous with breathing”, Manahar says. Experiences, successes and failures make us grow as a person. During his masters, he let go of the film-goer hat and replaced it with the filmmaker hat. Courageously, Manahar decided to pursue his love for cinema on the front foot, simultaneously with acting on the back foot. He accomplished all, in his words, “with aggressive execution yet a calm gaze”.
Manahar realised the value of deep rest; and now perceived career as a marathon and not a sprint. He sincerely hopes that he’d be able to mentor filmmakers and artists of the coming generations.
As a message to the aspiring artists, Manahar Kumar asks them, that irrespective of the talent being innate or acquired through hard work, your voice and intention must be clear and distinct, find the stories you would want to put in the vessel, and how deep you’re willing to go.
Further he adds, “Be dispassionate. Invest in deep rest. Allow your consciousness to run wild and solve puzzles surpassing time and memories. If Newton or Archimedes won’t have taken breaks, we won’t be studying their equations. No matter what demons you might’ve faced in the past or your aspirations for the future, the true gift of life lies in the present. As human beings, we have a habit of seeking patterns, be it in nature, people or habits, yet what is still hard for us to fathom is the subtle yet courageous act of letting go. With childish curiosity, we can delve deeper and restfully walk towards our vision and with relentless optimism when we truly begin to play and not ‘work’, you’re consciously here and now, that is when miracles flow. Just…keep breathing. Life is always on your side. You got this.”
You can view all his work and projects here.
