Vrushali Samant

Madness in Mumbai (Rupa Publications) is Vrushali Samant’s fourth novel. Her previous book Prime Time Crime (Vishwakarma Publications) has been optioned for a book-to-screen adaptation, while He Loves Me Not (Penguin Random House, India) was featured at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival’s Word-to-Screen Market. Vrushali’s debut novel, Can’t Die for Size Zero (Rupa Publications), was a runaway bestseller, and she was invited to write a column for Marie Claire India titled ‘Big Girl in a Skinny World’. This year-long global initiative featured contributors from New York, London, São Paulo, and Melbourne, with Vrushali from Mumbai writing its India chapter. She has also contributed to Harper’s Bazaar’s special issue on body positivity. 

Vrushali won Best Director at the Berlin Indie Film Festival for her debut short film, Bena (2022), which was showcased on Disney Hotstar and JioCinema. Her film credits include research for the Hindi feature film Daddy (2017), a gangster biopic directed by Ashim Ahluwalia. She has co-written the indie feature film My Birthday Song (2018) with actor and director Samir Soni. Her screenwriting journey began on Vikram Bhatt’s film Shaapit (2010) as an associate.  

She started her professional career as an entertainment reporter with CNBC TV-18 and then moved to NDTV. She has written and produced non-fiction for MTV.  

Currently a student of screenwriter, actor and director Boman Irani’s online screenwriting class Spiralbound, Vrushali has had the privilege of attending guest lectures by Indo-Canadian novelist and playwright Anosh Irani through the programme. She considers it an honour to be guided by these two esteemed figures as she navigates her writing journey.