Manahar Kumar

Manahar Kumar is a writer-student EMMY® award winning director-actor. Born and brought up around professional English Theatre in Chandigarh, North India, and pursuing his undergraduate degree in Manipal, South India, Manahar's world-view expanded, after observing many kinds of India in one India. Acting in classics like, The Mousetrap, Mother's Day, The Night of January 16 and 12 Angry Men (Jurors), Manahar learnt, grew and fell in love with performing arts. In Manipal, he co-founded a production house by the name of UnTied Laces. This was followed by various projects, across different genres, where he contributed as writer, cinematographer, director, editor and actor including a music video in collaboration with the non-profit, Men Against Rape and Discrimination (MARD) that sought to inspire and mobilize more men to stand up against everyday sexual violence in urban India. As a graduate student having pursued a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television at Savannah College of Art & Design, Atlanta, Manahar won the "Most Likely to be a Renowned Actor" Ambassador's Choice Award and the "Outstanding Academic Achievement Award". He helmed the lead role in SCAD Atlanta's Pilot Production - What Remains of Emily. Another short narrative he wrote and directed, Race, won Best Indie Film at the New York Film Awards. His short documentary about two 8-year old's picking up empty alcohol bottles in order to sell it to buy books in kya dekh raha hai? (What are you looking at?) fetched him a student EMMY. Moreover, another documentary of his focussing on women leaders inculcating the pursuit of knowledge and growth, to kids and men in India in Badlaav (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 an actor on-screen he's been able to hone his skills through numerous student shorts and thesis films. His role in Mabrook was immensely appreciated at the Academy Award qualifying, 2021 Atlanta Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Shortfest, the most prestigious short film festival in North America. Stardust, his thesis film, won the Audience Award at Georgia Film Festival and was a finalist at the Film Impact Georgia Grant. Most recently, it was screened at the International Film Festival of South Asia in Toronto. What draws Manahar to filmmaking and acting is the desire to move and entertain audiences. It is also the opportunity to shine a light of awareness, empathy, compassion, and, above all, justice, on the many social and ideological evils that lurk hidden in the shadows of the public discourse around him, be it gendered violence, a benevolent patriarchy, or exploitation by class and caste.