Mantra

Puranjit Dasgupta (born 21 August 1982), better known by his stage name Mantra, is an Indian actor, film director and producer, who started his career as a Radio jockey.

He is known for his portrayal of Bhaskar Bose in Spotify's detective thriller podcast Bhaskar Bose and Genie in Disney India's broadway-style musical Aladdin.

Before venturing into the media industry, he was in the hospitality business from 1996 to 2000 and worked as a front desk receptionist and manager for The Taj Hotel.

RJ Mantra started his career with Radio Mirchi, the India's first private FM station in 2001.

He moved to Delhi in 2003 and joined Radio City, where he hosted Route 91.

He then moved on to work with Red FM 93.5, where he also hosted Radio show, Mumbai Local.

His first major TV appearance was Lagegi on UTV's Bindass channel in 2007.

The show was later renamed Hass ley India.

Mantra made his film debut as an actor with Vishesh Films' Tum Mile in 2009, where he appeared as the second lead Vicky.

In 2010, Mantra co-hosted dance reality show, Zara Nachke Dikha with Jennifer Winget on Star Plus.

He played Doubting Dev in a show called Mystery Hunters India on Discovery Kids.

As a stand-up comedian, he participated in successive Comedy Circus.

He went on to appear in Abhishek Bachchan starrer Game (2011), followed by Sagar Ballary's comedy film, Bheja Fry 2 (2011).

He played the role of Nandu, a gangster in Hum Tum Shabana (2011) and a Paris-based sex toy shop owner in London, Paris, New York (2012).

He took a break from Radio in 2012.

He performed this two-hour musical drama first at the Globe Theatre in London as a part of the World Shakespeare Festival in May 2012, followed by the performances in Paris, Canada and the United States in 2016.

As a wild card entry, Mantra participated in the sixth season of the celebrity dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa in June 2013.

He was evicted from the show after two weeks.

He co-hosted reality TV series, India's Got Talent with Bharti Singh in 2013–2014.

Mantra played the main lead in the mythological drama series Narayan Narayan, which aired on Big Magic.

His performance as Narad was well received by the audience.

He also worked as Video Jockey for Channel V and has hosted several television programs, including First Day First Show, G-spot.

He hosted the Pro Kabaddi League, a professional-level Kabaddi league for the past seven seasons.

Later, in 2015, he hosted Family Fortunes, an Indian TV game show based on the American game show Family Feud, aired on Big Magic.

In 2016's Rebellious Flower, a biopic of spiritual leader Osho Rajneesh, Mantra played the triple role of three spiritual guides who help Osho find enlightenment.

The film was shot in real locations in rural Madhya Pradesh in Central India.

He also appeared on Life OK's Har Mard Ka Dard in 2016.

He returned to Radio in February 2017 with 92.7 Big FM's radio drama Lamhe With Mantra, a fiction-based show based on a particular theme of romance for each day.

In 2017, he appeared on Balaji Telefilms's web series Boygiri, available on ALTBalaji.

In 2018, he was seen in Akarsh Khurana's comedy film, High Jack, where he played a hijacker, Vinit.

In 2018, he was praised across India for his performance as Genie in Disney India's hit Broadway style musical Aladdin, which instantly became a crowd favourite.

He appeared in various Hindi films, notably Panipat (2019), High Jack (2018), Rebellious Flower (2016), London, Paris, New York (2012), Bheja Fry 2 (2011), Game (2011) and Tum Mile (2009).

He is the founder of Mumbai based production company, Mantramugdh Productions.

He gained a name as a host, anchoring for TV shows like India's Got Talent, Comedy Circus, and Zara Nachke Dikha, and also hosted the Pro Kabaddi League, a Kabaddi league for the past seven seasons.

He was born to Chandra Dasgupta, an actress who worked in Hindi cinema and Prabir Dasgupta, a book publisher.

He spent his childhood years in Indore and did most of his schooling at Indore Public School, Indore.

He portrayed the role of Najib ad-Dawlah in Ashutosh Gowariker's 2019 period film Panipat starring Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Kapoor and Kriti Sanon.

In 2020, he appeared in three ZEE5 web series —the rom-com series Phone a Friend, the sci-fi thriller series Bhanwar, the thriller series The Casino.

He also acted in MX Player's crime thriller series High and SonyLIV original series Shrikant Bashir.

As a theatre artist, Mantra has performed in more than 100 plays of Piya Behrupiya, a Hindi interpretation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night produced by Atul Kumar's The Company Theatre.