Manav Kaul interview: ‘I am 98 per cent a writer, the remaining two per cent, everything else’

Manav Kaul cycles to his neighbourhood cafe, where his entry is noted but without any intrusion into his personal space or demands for selfies. As he sits, he knocks over a glass of water and laughs: “Oh! Manav, that’s great. You know, I am famous for this. Messy.”

A very youthful 48, Kaul lives alone in a suburb of Mumbai, spends long months in a mountain retreat, and keeps away from the trappings of showbiz, which he sees as a means to allow him to do what he loves most – writing and travelling. Which is why his literary and theatre work outweighs his sporadic screen appearances. His role as a hearing-impaired man in the Netflix anthology Ajeeb Daastaans (2021) invited a gush of social media praise for this thinking woman’s sex symbol.

Kaul sees himself as a writer first, because that’s how he can express his eclectic ideas. Inspiration that can strike from anywhere is converted into lyrical, partly philosophical prose, with loneliness as one of the themes. For instance, Kaul read a book by a Scandinavian writer about her daughter’s death and wrote Titli. Patjhad is about people he met on his travels. His most recent book is the English translation of Antima, titled Under the Night Jasmine. Here are excerpts from...

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