Turning dreams into reality

Production designer Manali Gavankar’s story will surely inspire many girls who want to pursue their dreams.

Born and brought up in a conventional middle-class Indian family, in the small town of Vasai, a distant suburb of Mumbai, she graduated with a Bachelor’s in philosophy. But she always wanted to pursue a career in production designing and work in films, a career choice that she was aware would have many roadblocks- both personally and professionally.

Taking an unconventional route, she decided to take a leap of faith and collaborated with production designer Dilip More. She worked as a set dresser on many award-winning projects such as Sense8 Season 2, Hotel Mumbai, and Victoria & Abdul along with production designer Dilip More.

After successfully working on international projects, Gavankar decided to move to the United States of America to pursue her master’s in production design at Savannah College of Art and Design, to further hone her craft and explore the opportunities.

As a student there, she worked as a set decorator on a short, titled Black, which was set in the Vietnam war 60’s era. The successful execution of the project gave her further recognition as it won multiple awards including Best Production Design Award at the Los Angeles Indie Short Film Festival February 2020.

Although, it is a well-known fact that the entertainment industry works on insider connections/pull, which is always an the inhibiting factor for aspirants, Manali strongly believes that honesty in your passion would lead to clarity in your ideas, which would eventually award you mentorship that will impart you the right course and valuable lessons for carving a successful career.

Gavankar’s inspiring story of determination and empowerment is sure to take her places and make a name in the film fraternity.

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