Manish Acharya

Manish G. Acharya (14 June 1967 – 4 December 2010) was an Indian film director and actor. Acharya was best known for Loins of Punjab Presents, the film he co-wrote with Anuwab Pal, directed, acted in, and co-produced. Released theatrically to great critical acclaim in 2007 in India and the US, the film starred Shabana Azmi, Ayesha Dharkar and Ajay Naidu among others. He then received a Master's degree from Iowa State University in Industrial Relations. Acharya worked in the US corporate world as Head of Marketing at MicroStrategy, and was featured on the cover of Marketing Magazine at the age of 27. At the age of 30, Manish left corporate America to study film directing, and received his Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University (NYU)'s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. He is survived by his wife, artist Dhruvi Acharya and their two children Malhar and Aman.