A third generation modernist, Parekh was born in Ahmedabad in Gujrat. His initiation in the art of drawing and painting was under Mukund Shroff After he got the Diploma in Drawing and Painting from Sir J. J. School of art, Bombay, in 1962, Manu started as a stage actor in Bombay and designed stage-sets in Ahmedabad.

Parekh participated in the Third and Fourth Triennale-India (1975, '78), and between 1975 and 1994 he attended eight artists' camps in India and abroad. from 1967 to 1992 he had 20 solo shows and 30 group shows, national and international, including 'Modern Indian Painting', National Gallery of Modern Art (1982), Hirschhorn Museum, Washington DC, Smithsonian Institute (1982), 'Seven Indian Artists' traveling exhibition in several cities in West Germany.

Parekh lives and works in New Delhi