Imagine living the corporate life… Hectic work schedules, evenings spent networking, no time to really do what you like, as weekends are to catch up with other things! Now imagine if you were to give it all up one day and pursue your dreams… A pursuit of music!
This is exactly what Manish Gunthey (2112) did.
Circa 2008: after 15 years of a structured corporate life, Manish decided to give it all up and take up music – something that practically may not sound wise. So, he gave himself one year to break through – else return to his old life.
Fortunately, Manish found a way to get people engaged… with the concept of Karaoke nights, as he first participated in, and then began hosting every Thursday evening at Bennigans, GK1. The concept took off.
Manish gathered a group of regulars. They brought in more people for whom Karaoke became a wonderful stress reliever. This spread further as they moved from one place to another and gathered momentum, so that multiple people now started hosting karaoke nights at different venues.
Manish says those were wonderful times, as they not only forged friendships for life, but the forum also became the point of genesis of their band ‘The Unplugged Project’ in 2013, which even began receiving corporate gigs and contracts.
Together with his partner, Aditya Jassi, Manish began performing multiple shows at different venues, within the country and abroad, added more band members, and continued on the upward trajectory until April 2023, when they parted ways.
One of the most memorable shows was playing at DLF founder, KP Singh’s golf course estate in Mussoorie… A venue only their music could have taken them!
For someone who up until college would shy away from singing in public, this was an unprecedented success! Born into a musical family, with his mother and her six brothers specializing in vocals and different instruments, Manish first learnt to play a guitar while he was in 12th grade, from a book (it was not the YouTube Era then!), and it gave him the confidence to perform in public, as a guitarist.
A chance opening at a college event made one of the professors goad Manish into singing, and then, there was no turning back. He, though, still credits the Karaoke evenings as the turning point in acquiring more confidence to sing in public.
In Covid times, we did come across Manish and his friends/ band members sing live on Facebook and Instagram, which caught on tremendously, and famously, he also did the Balcony series with Vinit Hukmani (3241)!
From time to time, Manish has also had his tryst with the Hindi film industry, notably with Ayushmann and Aparshakti Khurrana, for whom he has been playing the guitar in their performances and promotions since 2014.
Of course, all of this success has come with its shares of ups and downs; when you are on your own, there will be challenges to face. According to Manish, though, it is important to go with the flow and keep doing whatever you have to consistently, and you will eventually succeed, but don’t wait to get started!
At present, Manish already has a new band, called Level 6, that is readying for gigs, while he is also looking at releasing his solo music.
As a die-hard Kishore Kumar fan, Manish embodies the spirit of the song ‘Chala jaata hoon kisi ki dhun mein…’!
