Manish Wadhwa (Actor)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manish Wadhwa

• Manish Wadhwa is an Indian actor and voice artist. He is predominantly known for essaying the role of Chanakya in the TV show ‘Chandragupta Maurya’ in 2011. In 2023, he played the main antagonist in the Bollywood film ‘Gadar 2.’

• At the age of 11, he shifted to Mumbai from Ambala with his family in 1983.

• He had a deep passion for acting since childhood.

• While studying in college, he used to actively participate in theatrical production and has also won Best Actor Award five times in Inter-Collegiate Drama Competitions.

• He performed in the Hindi play Sati (1992-1993) in ICDC held by IPTA and won Balraj Sahani Trophy and University’s Best Actor Award for his performance.

• In 1999, Wadhwa turned to commercial theatres and performed in various stage plays. He played a lead role in the stage plays ‘Maa Retire Hoti Hai’ and ‘Dr. Mukta,’ along with Jaya Bachchan.

  

• He has appeared alongside Javed Jaffrey in the comedy play ‘Hum Le Gaye Tum Reh Gaye.’

• After making his debut with the film ‘Rahul’ (2001), he appeared in the Hindi film ‘Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero’ (2004), in which he played the role of Captain Inayat Gyani.

• Following his television debut with the TV series ‘Amarpali’ (2002), he appeared in the mystery television series ‘Kohinoor’ (2005), on Sahara One, in which he played the negative role of Kali.

  

• In 2005, he worked as a voice-over artist for the Hindi version of the English film ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ in which he provided his voice for the role of Willy Wonka, originally played Johnny Depp.

• The actor played a double role of Vikram Bhargav and Vineet Bhargav in the real-life based crime show ‘Mano Ya Na Mano’ (2006), hosted by Irrfan Khan. The show was aired on Star One.

• For the Hindi version of the English film ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), Manish Wadhwa did a voice-over for the role of Lord Sopespian, originally played by Damián Alcázar.

  

• For the Hindi versions of the English film ‘The Twilight Saga’ sequels, he provided the voice for the role of Jacob Black, which was originally by Taylor Lautner.

• He did the Hindi voice-over for the role of Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, originally played by Sebastian Stan, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

• He has done voice-over for the Hindi version of several Hollywood films such as ‘Provoked’ (2006), ‘Predators’ (2010), ‘Inferno’ (2016), ‘The Finest Hours’ (2016), ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ (2017), ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018), and ‘Triple Frontier’ (2019).

• In 2009, he played the role of Nirbhay Choudhary in the TV series ‘Mitwa – Phool Kamal Ke,’ aired on StarPlus.

• The actor worked as a voice-over artist for the Hindi-dubbed version of the English animation film ‘Megamind’ (2010).

  

• Manish Wadhwa gained immense popularity after he played the role of Chanakya in the historical drama television series ‘Chandragupta Maurya’ (2011), which aired on Imagine TV.

  

• Wadhwa played the role of Ravan in the TV series ‘Devon Ke Dev… Mahadev’ (2011), on Life OK and ‘Kahat Hanuman Jai Shri Ram’ (2020) on &TV.

  

• Some of his other notable TV shows include ‘Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? Ek Baar Phir’ (2013) on StarPlus, ‘Mahakumbh- Ek Rahasaya, Ek Kahani’ (2014) on Life OK, ‘Siya Ke Ram’ (2015) on StarPlus, ‘Paramavatar Shri Krishna’ (2017) on &TV, and ‘Hero – Gayab Mode On’ (2020) on Sony SAB.

• In the year 2017, he provided the Hindi voice-over for the lead role in the English animated film ‘Ferdinand,’ which was originally voiced by John Cena.

• Manish Wadhwa dubbed for the role of Pierce in the Hindi version of the English web series ‘Lucifer Season 3’ (2017), and he also provided his voice for Vincent Le Mac in ‘Lucifer Season 6’ (2021).

• He has also provided his voice for the Hindi-dubbed versions of the first three seasons of the Spanish web series ‘Elite,’ which premiered on Netflix.

  

• In 2018, he appeared in the Bollywood film ‘Padmaavat’ in which he played the role of Gandharv Sen.

• In 2020, he lent his voice for the role of Vikram Singh in the English version of the Hindi film ‘Raat Akeli Hai.’

• In the same year, he provided his voice for the role of Dileep Singh in the English version of the Hindi film ‘Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl.’ The role was originally played by Vineet Kumar Singh in the film.

• He worked as a voice-over artist for the Hindi version of the Tamil film ‘Jagame Thandhiram’ (2021) in which he dubbed for the role of Theerthamalai, which was originally played by Baba Bhaskar in the film.

  

• In 2021, he dubbed for the Hindi version of the Tamil web series ‘Navarasa,’ which premiered on Netflix.

• For the Hindi version of the English web series ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ (2021), which streamed on Disney+, he did a voice-over for the role of Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier.

• In 2022, he dubbed for the role of Corinthian (originally played by Boyd Holbrook) in the Hindi version of the English web series ‘The Sandman.’

• In the Hindi film ‘Gadar 2’ (2023), he played the role of General Hamid Iqbal and received immense praise for his performance.

  

• Some of his other Bollywood films include ‘Shabri’ (2011), ‘Baa Baaa Black Sheep’ (2018), ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ (2019), and ‘Pathaan’ (2023).

• He worked in some telefilms such as ‘Alakh Nanda,’ directed by Mr Yatindra Rawat and ‘Asha – The Boat,’ directed by Mr Ramesh Talwar.

• In an interview, the actor revealed that he couldn’t grow hair for a decade because he was offered roles that required him to shave his head after he went bald for playing the role of Chanakya in the TV show ‘Chandragupta Maurya.’ While talking about this in the interview, he said,
  

  I went bald 11 years ago and people have not let me grow my hair ever since! I have been offered characters that require me to retain the look. I remember precisely the date when I went bald. It was on December 22, 2010 for the character of Chanakya in Chandragupta Maurya.”