About Vipin Bhandare
Vipin is a very passionate storyteller and believes in the Art of Storytelling. He feels that modern-day stories are very robotic in nature, lifeless and lack emotions and that is what got him to write stories from his heart, stories that he feels should touch the reader’s soul.
LiFT: Tell us about your book, the journey of writing it and its content.
Vipin: A story of a pregnant princess, who is on the run, trying to protect the heir to the kingdom, the child in her womb.
The idea occurred to me when I revisited my school in Panchgani around 2012 and having spent all my schooling years in the serene mountains, I felt the need to give back to nature. This is my way of showing gratitude to these beautiful mountains of Sahyadri.
LiFT: Why you chose this title?
Vipin: My fondness for historical fiction and the beautiful Sahyadri mountain range in Maharashtra, where my childhood days would be lost in my imagination, is what led me to choose this title.
LiFT: When did you realize that you want to be a writer and what’s your inspiration behind it?
Vipin: At a very early stage in life, I was introduced to T.S. Eliot’s Macavity: The Mystery Cat. It was for a chorus recitation at the school’s Annual Function. The award that came for the performance made me realise that storytelling and creating a world of make-believe is what I had a niche for.
LiFT: Where do you see yourself ten years down the line in the world of literature?
Vipin: Amongst like-minded authors, famous and well-known, all sitting and discussing my books and my style of literature. ( Ha ha..) Well, jokes apart, I would love to be known as an “Author who wrote through his Heart”.
LiFT: How much do you think marketing or quality of a book is necessary to promote a particular book and increase its readers?
Vipin: It is the primary aspect of what books should crave to be. There is a saying that if you want to be immortal, write a book and leave a legacy behind. A good book, an amazing story has the power to bind and influence people and cultures even centuries after we are gone. That is the power of a good book. A bad book uses marketing as crutches, and a good book uses marketing as a jet pack and boosts itself.
LiFT: What is the message you want to spread among folks with your writings?
Vipin: That Life is short and Beautiful. Do not waste it hating one another, criticizing and in jealousy. Instead, appreciate the moments we have on this Earth and “Live life King size”.
LiFT: What do you do apart from writing?
Vipin: I try my hand at comedy and karaoke. I also enjoy my other career, which is Interior Designing and Construction. I am very fond of creating concept designs that represent my way of thinking. I am highly passionate about buildings and Interiors.
LiFT: What are the activities you resort to when you face a writer’s block?
Vipin: What’s that? Well, I usually go to a secluded place, cut myself off from the world and get completely engrossed in thoughts, almost bursting my brain out. Yet I am not rid of writer’s block. It’s when I am returning to civilisation, riding my bike through the cool breeze that ideas strike me and my writer’s block is overcome, after having wasted an entire day, only to realise it on my way back.
LiFT: What if your story will be adopted as a movie? Whom would you want to work as a director or actors in it?
Vipin: I have always had a clear vision for my book and hence find it easier to answer this. My choice of director would be Mr Rahi Anil Barve and I have a particular character from the book that I see Mr Soham Shah enacting.
LiFT: Are you working on your next book? If yes, please tell us someting about it.
Vipin: Yes, I have started working on it. This is a horror story and that is another genre that I am very fond of. The goosebumps, the jumpscares, the unknown and the supernatural have all been very enticing and I madly love these. Who doesn’t love a good horror story or a movie?
LiFT: What are your suggestions to the budding writers/poets so that they could improve their writing skills?
Vipin: Most writers, budding and maybe even established (not sure though) including me, indulge in procrastination and forget that we have to write daily. It is a skill that helps sharpen the brain, so just write, write and write. Improvement shall happen over a period of time. Pick a pen, pick a pencil and write.
Click here to order Vipin Bhandare’s Book – Rani Sahyadri
