Manish Mundra

Manish Mundra (born April 22, 1973) is an Indian film producer, philanthropist and businessman. He is the founder and head of Drishyam Films, and Managing Director of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, a group company of Indorama, a multi-billion dollar petro-chemical firm headquartered in Nigeria. He is an avid lover of cinema and is often hailed as a messiah of India's indie film-makers and believes that if content-driven independent films are made with the right budget and exhibited well, irrespective of big stars and huge marketing, they will find their audience and justify their investment. He has focused on making commercially viable films with touching human stories and commands great respect for nurturing high quality cinema with modest budgets. His company, Drishyam Films aims to build a platform for unique voices of Indian independent cinema and create global content with rich Indian flavours. He has produced several films, such as Ankhon Dekhi, Masaan, Umrika and Dhanak, most of which have received widespread critical acclaim and have won laurels in several prestigious national and international film festivals as well. Manish is also known for establishing the Drishyam–Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab for aspiring Indian screenwriters.

Manish Mundra was born into a middle-class Marwari family in Deoghar, Jharkhand. His father owned a small business but the family met with hard times when he was just a child, prompting Manish's family to toil profusely to keep the everyone fed. Manish even sold saris and soft drinks as a teenager, in order to make a living. His parents, nevertheless, went all out to provide Manish with a good education. At the age of 24, he earned an MBA degree from Jodhpur University and got a corporate job at Aditya Birla Group, where he moved through the ranks within several of their firms, before joining Indorama Group's Jakarta branch in 2002 and setting up its petrochemical operations in Nigeria from scratch and through his professional accomplishments, Mundra went on to become Managing Director. He had always harbored the dream of making films someday but his humble background and modest upbringing had persuaded him to think more practically and aspire to make the money that he would require to pursue his dream of producing films first. Therefore, once he had positioned himself and the company comfortably in terms of financial stability successfully, he was better placed to realize his dream of producing films. Today, he has acquired the talent to seamlessly run the affairs of the company while simultaneously produce good quality cinema which he always aspired to as a kid.

After a chance interaction with Rajat Kapoor on Twitter in 2013, Manish, out of sheer passion for cinema, agreed to finance his first film Ankhon Dekhi. The film went on to win three Filmfare Awards and three Screen Awards, and there has no looking back for the corporate leader-turned-film producer. Since that fateful year, Manish has pursued his passion for content-driven cinema with a single-minded dedication. The success of Ankhon Dekhi was followed by Umrika directed by Prashant Nair which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2015 and won the Audience Choice Award in the World Dramatic Competition section. Soon after, Dhanak directed by Nagesh Kukunoor not only premiered in the Generation Kplus at the Berlinal International Film Festival 2015, but also won the Grand Jury prize, as well as a Special Mention from the Children’s Jury. Dhanak is slated to release across India on June 10, 2016. The success at Sundance and Berlin was followed by Masaan directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, that premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2015 and brought home laurels by winning the Un Certain Regard Promising Future Prize and FIPRESCI Award. The film had a great theatrical run of six weeks in India and picked up a bunch of critics and audience choice awards, including Filmfare Award and National Award for Best Debut.

Drishyam Films' next film Waiting directed by Anu Menon, premiered in the 'Cinema of the World' program at the prestigious Dubai International Film Festiva 2015 and is slated to release across India on May 27, 2016. Their upcoming productions include Atanu Mukerjee's Rukh starring Manoj Bajpayee and Amit Masurkar's Newton starring Rajkummar Rao. They have also ventured into distribution with Lucia filmmaker Pawan Kumar's film U-Turn set to hit screens on May 20, 2016.

Focused on development initiatives, Drishyam Films has also partnered with the Sundance Institute, USA to organise a Screenwriters’ lab for Indian writers. The second edition of the Drishyam Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab was recently held in Udaipur, Rajasthan, in April 2016.

Drishyam Films has also set up a VFX studio specialising in post-production and visual effects for feature films and commercials.

Manish is married and has two children. He shuttles between Nigeria and Dubai, where his family lives. Mundra, also runs a non-profit school in Jodhpur, through his Non-Profit Organization SFORD(Society For Rational Development), that provides free education and funds for over 250 students every year. He is also writing a book based on his own experiences in life which he hopes, would inspire people with modest means and backgrounds to dream big and someday achieve their dreams through sheer hard work, passion and dedication.