Manish Mundra is no stranger to cinephiles, especially those familiar with films like Masaan (2015), Dhanak (2016), Newton (2017), and Kadvi Hawa (2017), all backed by his production house Drishyam Films and celebrated at international festivals. Away from the silver screen, Mundra, a corporate-turned-film producer has nurtured another obsession—photography—this time drawn to natural landscapes far removed from movie sets.
His maiden photobook, Wild Africa: Through My Lens (Rupa Publications), distills his journeys into the African wilderness into images that “tell stories beyond thousands of words”.
The hard-bound book of 174 leafs brings together over 100 photographs, each with its own story, captured over ten years of travelling across East Africa’s savannas. A pride of lions hunting, cheetahs with bloodied faces clutching prey, cubs at play, a lone cheetah resting on a tree, hyenas in packs—the scenes reflect both the raw brutality and tenderness of the wild.“In capturing them, I wanted to show Africa from my side of the story,” Mundra explains. That “story,” he adds, speaks of being in the presence of nature’s self-sustaining balance, far removed from our hyper-connected lives in concrete jungles.
Capturing stories
Photography, Mundra says, is a natural extension of his creative temperament. “I was always drawn towards expressing my thoughts through art—whether painting, writing poems, making films, or photography. And as a child, I was fascinated by wildlife,” says the Nigeria-based photographer, for whom East Africa has become a muse shaping not just his pictures but also his worldview.
Unlike most coffee-table books, Wild Africa is designed with minimal text. Rather than classifying photographs by species, Mundra presents each image as a fresh encounter, accompanied only by a handful of quotes—lessons culled from his own journey. “I didn’t want to write the names of the species or add too much explanation. Let the reader be curious, search, and discover. The quotes are there to spark thought, to nudge the audience towards the philosophy I wanted them to feel,” he says. Large-format spreads also heighten the immersive quality. “Each picture speaks to you, makes you pause, and unravels your thought process,” Mundra notes.
Ultimately, he sees his photobook as a call to return to the natural world. “We are drawing ourselves away from Mother Nature. But whenever we return to the jungle, we realise how nature heals, nurtures, and sustains life — while humans, knowingly or unknowingly, keep pushing ourselves further away.”
Lessons of wilderness
Years in the wild have imprinted themselves on Mundra. Each encounter—lions that once hunted later becoming prey as they aged, the endless migrations of wildebeests and zebras, the tense wait for a leopard to return to its kill—has been a reminder of nature’s unyielding cycles of survival and renewal.
These lessons extend beyond photography. A day in the field often began at 4.30 am, driving into the savanna to catch animals in their most active hours, when the morning light was best. Laden with heavy equipment, he would wait for hours—sometimes days—before a single shot. “You need to be very alert. Sometimes you witness kills, but it’s very difficult to capture them. There’s a lot of patience required.”
Every perfect shot is a victory lap, but not all moments in the wild were serene. Mundra recalls being surrounded once by nearly twenty lions, while in an open vehicle. “My heart was beating, but the guide told me not to move. Later, it felt exciting. But at that moment, it was very daunting,” says Mundra.
Beyond Africa
While Wild Africa culminates nearly a decade of work, Mundra is already thinking ahead. Leopards fascinate him in particular—their adaptability across terrains, from snow-clad mountains to humid rainforests, and their mythical presence in folklore worldwide. He envisions a future book dedicated solely to leopards, spanning India, Africa, the Amazon, and beyond. Closer to home, he also hopes to bring focus to Indian wildlife, especially tigers and leopards, in another coffee-table project.
Unlike many art books, commercial gain was never the driver. Instead, he measures success by reach. “If someone keeps it as a personal collection, that’s wonderful,” he says, “but I’m happiest knowing that the book is available to students and readers for generations.”
This article is written by Adithi Reena Ajith