6 min readNew DelhiMar 25, 2023 11:58 AM IST
First published on: Mar 25, 2023 at 09:10 AM IST
Writer, theatre director, actor, playwright, and an unapologetic wanderer — Manav Kaul uses his creativity to translate the experiences of his life into words. “Don’t be shocked if I start painting in some time as I am part of this storytelling art world and I can express myself in whichever medium I feel like,” said Kaul, in an interaction with indianexpress.com.
The polymath carved out a space for himself in the literary world with his first play Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane in 2004, followed by his first book Theek Tumfare Peeche in 2016. And now, Kaul recently launched his latest book, Titli, which deals with the underlying theme of ‘death’. However, he stays away from presenting death as scary and, instead, shows it as an extension of life itself. “Death can never be scary. It is the ultimate truth. The mystery that we’ve created around it makes it sound scary,” Kaul said.
Seeds of the novel Titli were sown when Kaul had a dream about writer Naja Marie Aidt whose book, When Death Takes Something From You Give It Back: Carl’s Book, he had just finished reading. Moved by the book, Kaul yearned to meet Naja but remained in disbelief about the possibility of this ever coming true. Thus began his journey of writing this auto-biographical book Titli, wherein the writer takes us to the enchanting landscape of Landour and acquaints us with an assortment of writers, whom he quotes throughout the book. Kaul depicts Copenhagen with such vividness and evocativeness that the readers feel like they are travelling with the author. However, the novelty of this book lies in its persistent efforts to not be yoked to the category of just a ‘travelogue.’
The touchstone of Kaul’s writing is his audacious woman characters such as Shayar in Titli and Aarti in Chuhal, among others. Talking about the same, he said, “We, men, still don’t know how to interact with a strong and self-assured woman and that’s a travesty. I explore this paradox in my stories.”
Kaul’s writing, though not always autobiographical, comes from a place very sacrosanct and personal to him, he admitted. “Writing is not just ‘work’ for me; it’s a playground for me. So I go, play, and have lots of fun and that fun is what translates to a reader as a touching story. It’s a very personal world. When you express something very personal through your creative work, you realise that the feeling is universal, only the way of expression differs,” he said.
Born in Kashmir’s Baramulla and growing up in MP’s Hoshangabad, Kaul’s rustic roots and the poignancy of separation from what he calls ‘home’ have opened for him a treasure trove of ideas and stories to write. “I’ve seen so many ups and downs in my life and lived so many different kinds of lives that I feel I have so much more to write about,” the 46-year-old said.
However, the Fame Game actor would have just remained a playwright had his friends not come across some of his short stories and insisted he gets them published. “I used to write some stories as a break from my playwriting. I never showed those stories to anyone. I had been writing those since 2000. After some years my friends got hold of it and forced me to publish those, thus, my first book was released in 2016,” Kaul revealed.
Opening up about his love for reading, he added, “I have to read a lot because that is like going back to school. I really want to learn more and more so I read a lot. If you’re writing another book there should be a strong reason for putting one more book on the shelf. For that, you should know what kinds of books already exist.”
“I see the world through the lens of a writer and I see writing as a part of my extended self. I like that extension of myself, and love to stay in that extended self,” he said.
If writing is the medium for him to explore the social and spiritual complexities of this world, travelling gives him the impetus to keep going. “I need to travel to meet amazing people, which helps me in bringing out interesting characters in my stories. I cannot sit at home and imagine those people. I also feel changing myself is very important. If I won’t change, my writing won’t change. So I live really different lives in different places. I keep taking a lot of breaks from acting because I want to travel. I really don’t take anything seriously, I am just playing everywhere.”
Immersed as he is in his creative universe, Kaul ultimately believes in living a content and fulfilling life. “If you compartmentalise your life and only do things which you like, you’d find that there is a lot of time. I feel I still have so much time on my hands. I don’t know what to do with that time. I don’t unnecessarily socialise. The most important thing is that it is your life and you should live a very happy and interesting life, everything is a byproduct of that,” he concluded.
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Immersed as he is in his creative universe, the umbilical cord of Manav Kaul’s work is tied to a content and fulfilling life. (Photo: Instagram/Manav Kaul) 
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