Manish Gupta

Manish Gupta
Born	Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Film director and screenwriter
Years active	2005 – present

Manish Gupta is an Indian director and writer in Bollywood. He has written the film Sarkar and has directed the film Rahasya. Manish started his career as a scriptwriter. His first film as a writer was Sarkar, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Katrina Kaif.

Manish soon graduated to film direction and made his debut as director with Darna Zaroori Hai in which he directed one story amongst the six stories each directed by a separate director.

Manish’s first film as independent director was The Stoneman Murders, starring Kay Kay Menon and Arbaaz Khan.

His next movie as director was "Hostel" that explored the psychology of ‘Ragging’ (Hazing/Initiation). The President of India, Mrs. Pratibha Patil felicitated Manish Gupta at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi for addressing a national issue through cinema.

Manish’s latest film is ‘Rahasya’ a murder mystery. The film stars Kay Kay Menon, Tisca Chopra and Ashish Vidyarthi released on 30 January 2015.

Career

Manish graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Agnel Technical College (Bandra, Mumbai) in 1994 and worked in an equipment manufacturing company as a shop floor engineer. After working for six years in this field, he decided to pursue his creative instincts. Manish switched professions by joining an ad agency as a copywriter and began writing TV and radio commercials.

It was during this short stint in advertising that Gupta saw Ram Gopal Varma’s film Company based on the Mumbai underworld. The film influenced Gupta to give up his lucrative career in advertising and approach Varma with his scripts. Varma took him under his wing. Impressed with his work in Sarkar, Varma asked Manish to script three other films, D (2005), James (2005), and Darna Zaroori Hai (2006).

Manish’s first job as a director was one story of Darna Zaroori Hai, which had six separate stories and six separate directors for each story. When Varma turned down one of Manish’s scripts, Manish moved on to become an independent director with The Stoneman Murders. The film released on 13 February 2009.

Manish protested against the evil practices of ragging in Indian hostels, through his movie Hostel that released in Jan 2011.

Manish’s latest film as Writer, Director and Line Producer ‘Rahasya’starring Kay Kay Menon, Tisca Chopra and Ashish Vidyarthi released on 30 January 2015. The movie is allegedly based on the Aarushi murder case.

Manish has been recently awarded the life membership of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy of Film & Television by Sandeep Marwah.