Mantra is the only child of actress Chandra DasGupta and publisher Prabir DasGupta. He spent his childhood years in Indore. He did most of his schooling from Indore Public School, popularly known as IPS. His family is credited with having set up one of India's oldest publishing houses, DasGupta Publications (since 1886), located on College Street in Kolkata. He took on the nom de plume Mantra when he started his career as a radio jockey with India’s first private radio station Radio Mirchi in 2000. His radio career has spanned for more than a decade and he has worked for Radio Mirchi, Radio City and Red FM, in Indore, Delhi and Mumbai.