Manav Kaul
| Manav Kaul | |
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Kaul, 2010
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| Born | 19 December 1976 |
| Occupation | Stage director ,playwright & actor |
| Years active | 1993–present |
Manav Kaul (born 1976) is an Indian theatre director, playwright, actor and film-maker.
Born in Baramulla, Kashmir, Manav Kaul lived in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. He started the theatre group Aranya in 2004. Amongst his notable plays are Ilhaam, Park and Shakkar ke Paanch Daane, which was his first outing as playwright and director in 2004. His influences include Charles Bukowski, Vinod Kumar Shukla and Nirmal Verma, to whom he paid homage in his 2010 play Red Sparrow.
In 2012, Kaul debuted as a film director with Hansa, for which he also wrote the screenplay. He made his acting debut in Hindi cinema with fantasy film Jajantaram Mamantaram in 2003, and has been lauded for his performance as a right-wing politician in the Gujarat-based Hindi drama Kai Po Che! in 2013.
In 2004, Kaul staged Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane, a dramatic monologue in Hindi about a small-towner whose "structured middle-India existence begins to feel suspiciously like a lie." It featured actor Kumud Mishra, who was to become his longtime collaborator. The Mumbai Theatre Guide wrote, "the final poetic denouement is neat, funny, reflective but unfortunately all too expected, all too perfect." The play was a stage hit and was performed in English in 2009, from a translation by Arshia Sattar.
In his next play, Peele Scooter Wala Aadmi Kaul explored a father-son relationship in an open-ended narrative, and adopted a style of poetic dialogue similar to that employed by Vinod Kumar Shukla and Nirmal Verma. It won him a META award for Best Script in 2006.
In 2006, moving away from internal monologues, Kaul staged a bitter-sweet meditation on old age called Bali aur Shambhu, featuring Sudhir Pandey and Mishra. The Times of India found it "not as philosophical as Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane, yet, it's a story that tugs at your heartstrings and has its moments," while the Mumbai Theatre Guide described it as "one of those plays that appeal to the senses but not to the intellect." Said Kaul, "I wrote the play after I visited an old-age home. I wanted to show that people in old-age homes also have fun."
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