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Here is a man who likes to live and love on his own terms. Manav Kaul is a polymath who has eked out an unconventional career in the Indian film industry for himself - having debuted commercially with 2003’s Jajantram Mamantram to now playing Manish Khanna in Netflix’s The Fame Game alongside Bollywood’s evergreen star, Madhuri Dixit.
Where others get overwhelmed by the pressures that come with being a man of the arts, Manav coolly goes on about his craft, never once abandoning the desire to experiment, all the while exploring the uncharted depths of a man's feelings in order to truly imbibe his characters.
Manav’s treasure chest of emotions come from an array of struggles and personal experiences as a man, especially the romantic ones, which he graciously allowed us to comb through as we played with him a game of ADE - Agree. Disagree. Explain. The premise was simple, we posited a few statements to him, and he simply had to tell us if he agreed or disagreed with them, subsequently explaining his stance as well.
Netflix’s Fame Game was an experience of a lifetime for Manav Kaul.
MK: “For me, acting has always been a therapeutic experience, and everytime it would make me feel relaxed; like doing a 10-kilometre run or something. When I started understanding this whole idea behind Manish Khanna and a successful person’s loneliness, I started to fall in love with this character. I remember texting Sri Rao late night, discussing the many layers that Manish’s character had, and how with each scene I was seemingly touching something new. On the face of it, initially, I knew he was a Bollywood star kind of in love with Anamika Anand, but the moment I started performing the role was when I realised that he was one of the most complex characters I’ve played. In fact when I finished the entire series, I started missing Manish Khanna a lot.”
Printed suit: Abraham & Thakore, Turtleneck pullover: Perona; Blazer and corduroy pants: Countrymade, Knit: Selected Homme
Sexual Chemistry is unimportant if you love someone.
MK: “I disagree. The thing is, compassion is very important too, especially if you’re in a long-term relationship. Being an amazing friend to your partner is the best thing that you can do - You tend to love spending time with them, enjoy getting up together in the morning and so on. But sometimes you get over the idea of being sexual with each other, which is normal (as the novelty wears off). *** or Sexual Chemistry has to be discovered and rediscovered, and nowadays there are several mediums to do so as well. You can rediscover yourself and your partner again, and there are a thousand ways to find the spark. But I believe it is an important part of a relationship for most people. Don’t you think?”
Cheating in a relationship is not a big deal.
MK: “That is controversial *breaks into peals of laughter*. Because I come from a small town, back in my younger days there used to be an adrishya varmala (invisible garland) in my mind whenever I’d meet a girl, thinking every girl I met was ‘the one’ for me. I ruined a lot of relationships because of that desperation. There was a film I’d seen long back, where an old couple was celebrating the wife’s 50th birthday together along a beach. She had confessed to her husband about sleeping with his best friend 20 years prior at a farmhouse party, as the secret had been eating her from inside. The husband replied that he had been aware of it all along leaving the woman shocked, as she had harboured guilt over that incident for over several years now. The husband then replied, ‘But you know I’ve never seen you that happy, how can I deny that happiness? You came back to me and I got happy because of your happiness’. That particular scene changed my perception, and I started questioning why cheating or sleeping with someone else is so damn taboo or important that you ruin an entire the entire life time spent in a relationship.”
Manav Kaul doesn’t believe in true love.
MK: “I don’t think there’s a ‘one true love’. I think you discover in retrospect, when you look back at life, the few people who were with you through all your ups and downs. That in my opinion is love. There’s so much going on in people’s lives, especially in a city like Bombay, where you can’t predict anything. As we change, so does everyone else as well, and if despite all these fluctuations people still stick around for a long time, where you have the comfort to pick up the phone and call them at any given point, then that is what true love is.”
Suit and shirt: Suket Dhir;Printed suit: Abraham & Thakore, Turtleneck pullover: Perona
Fame Game’s Manish Khanna was an easy character to play.
MK: “It wasn’t easy at all. At all! Because first of all I don’t understand the world that he belongs to. Manish is a huge star living in a huge mansion, when he goes out there are people screaming, almost like a Bollywood superstar. In a way, I don’t entirely understand that despite vicariously experiencing it through theatre. I have met people after my plays who tell me that they’re crazy about my writing, so I have felt that kind of stardom in pockets. But the kind of stardom that Shahrukh possesses, and Shahrukh is the star, that is what Manish Khanna is. I may not necessarily understand that specific world, but luckily do totally get the inner world of Manish. So I had to rely more on the psyche of a person who understood that. So yeah, it was tough to crack but somehow I managed.
Male Friendships Are Important For A Man Even When They're In A Relationship.
MK: “I agree. When a friend of yours gets into a relationship you should give space to that person because you want that person to get more comfortable with their partner, knowing eventually that they would come around. One thing that is true is that there’s nothing like Male bonding. Male friendships are very important. For example, I love bike trips with my two friends, Kumud and Sam. We have done so many outings together - From Bombay to Leh and back, as well as several other bike trips to Uttarakhand and Ratnagiri as well. You stick to your comfort zones as far as these friendships are concerned, you can be humorous and you can be ‘blah’ in these equations without any judgement. So I definitely understand that bond.”
Getting back with my ex-girlfriend is a good idea.
MK: *laughs* “I think all your exes after a certain time can become beautiful friends. Because what happens is that you end up going through a lot together. But you have to give it time, for time is a beautiful thing, it heals. Exes eventually can become good because they remind you of your youth, and the time you spent together.”
Printed suit: Abraham & Thakore, Turtleneck pullover: Perona
Asli mard expresses his love honestly and freely.
MK: “Till 30, men don’t even know who they are. After they hit 30 they start understanding themselves better. You understand it very late in your life. So by this time you’ve already built up so many layers of shells around yourself. All the ridiculous notions and ideals that we grew up with left us confused to an extent that when we met a girl for the first time, we didn’t even know what to expect - we have no clue as to what she would want or what we want either.”
Singledom is underrated.
MK: *laughs* “This is the correct question for me. I think I like travelling a lot. I understood that late in my life - In the span of one life I want to be everywhere on this planet. And then I realised that I liked writing and acting a lot as well. So, anything that messes with these three things - travelling, acting and writing - I tend not to like it. In this fictional world that I created for myself, where I live, I don’t want to be disturbed. I’ve realised that I like being single, I like to be single so I can be flowing everywhere. I don’t like responsibilities. Right now I can randomly go anywhere, take whatever decisions I want without a problem. I don’t want someone else to be there with me taking on that ride all because I want that ride. I have been given one life and I want to squeeze all the experiences and essence from it, that’s how I want to live. And I find that could be a selfish trait for someone else. So, because I am selfish, and have no qualms about it, I prefer being single.”
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