Manav Kaushik

Biography

Born and brought up in a small town near Delhi, Manav Kaushik is the youngest of three brothers that Dr. R.P. Kaushik and Mrs. Rama Kaushik had. After completing matriculation in Sonipat for which he had won the National Scholarship, he shifted to Delhi and got admission in Delhi University. While studying, he would participate in debates and poetry competitions and host amateur radio shows for All India Radio. He was recommended by A.I.R. to the Trade Fair Authority of India (T.F.A.I) and became an announcer there. In the year, 1983 he went to Switzerland and completed PG in Hospitality Management and worked in Horgen, close to Zurich. As soon as he returned from Switzerland, he was invited by India’s most prestigious educational institution Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Delhi Chapter, to develop and design School of Hospitality Management and Tourism and till year 1990 he remained as the Course Director of the same for 4 years. While making short educational films for his school, he got introduced to Bollywood and the small child in him who was forever an interesting story teller with god gifted talent to draw and paint finally decided to shift his base from Delhi to Mumbai. After having waited for almost 9 months without any work, he was fortunate enough to meet India’s ace producer and director Mr. Vidhu Vinod Chopra. He joined him as a trainee but by pure devotion and dedication, hard work and intense interest, he became his 1st Assistant Director for the magnum opus ‘1942 – A Love Story’. As an assistant, he would be asked to do mechanicals, play characters for the lighting and camera setups and this task was so very well appreciated by senior cast and crew that he was offered a small role in ‘Kareeb’. During rushes, since it was realized that he was an amazing performer, the role was increased and Manav Kaushik became an actor. The movie did not do well at the Box Office but two characters were extremely appreciated – The new leading girl Neha and the character of Ram Kumar, wonderfully played by Manav Kaushik. Just after that, today’s well-known film and music director Vishal Bhardwaj who was making a tele-film ‘Dhain-te-Dain’ for ZEE Channel, asked him to play the ‘common man’ in it. Manav Kaushik who did short film related courses in the US and in India, came in contact with Hungarian Director Istvan Gaal at the F.T.I.I. who taught and trained him further privately. Manav Kaushik who has more than 400 film based TV shows to his credit as a researcher and script writer, is an incalculable thinker and is involved in talks, does hold film based workshops and works as a ‘script doctor’ for film projects.