born in baramulla, kashmir, manav kaul lived in hoshangabad, madhya pradesh. he belongs to a kashmiri pandit family. he started the theatre group aranya in 2004. amongst his notable plays are "ilhaam", "park" and "shakkar ke paanch daane", which was his first outing as playwright and director in 2004. his influences include charles bukowski, vinod kumar shukla, franz kafka and nirmal verma, to whom he paid homage in his 2010 play "red sparrow".