Vaibhav Purandare grew up in Mumbai in the 1980s and 90s, the tumultuous decades in which Bal Thackeray and his Shiv Sena went from being regional political players to champions of a militant Hindutva that carried their rhetoric and rage across India.
He began his journalistic career with the political newsmagazine Blitz in 1993, in the early part of which, Thackeray and his organization played a key role in the Mumbai riots, and has since worked with India’s leading newspapers such as The Indian Express, The Asian Age, Daily News and Analysis (DNA), Mid-Day and Mumbai Mirror, apart from writing for a host of other publications.
His first book, The Sena Story was published in 1999, when he was only 23. His second book, Sachin Tendulkar: A Definitive Biography (Roli Books) and is now into its fifth edition. He is currently Senior Associate Editor with the Hindustan Times, Mumbai.
“Book writing is a long journey. If you are interested, you need to find the project we would like to work on. Check what material is already available on the same subject and look if you could contribute something interesting to that subject. Hitler's biography is one of the most famous books. Most people have it or might have read it. Here we have two very common assumptions: Hitler, a friend of India, and whether he helped India get freedom through WW2. We presume this is due to various factors; first is WW2 and photo-op where we have seen Indian leaders like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose with Adolf Hitler. I must say Hitler was never a friend of India; rather, he had his concept of Aryan Race theory, and he never thought anything good about India. He thought Indians were unfit for self-rule. Hitlers Autobiography lacks context. I find it very hard to read. Mahatma Gandhi was criticized for being too soft on Hitler. Hitler never wanted to host the Olympics, but some sections of the Nazis convinced him to show a good image of Nazis. Subhash Chandra Bose met Hitler to convince him to remove the anti-India remark.”