Ajinkya Bhasme
"Amazon bestselling author in the horror genre, Bhasme carefully crafts his works based on sever mental illness. He uses his research background from IIT Bombay and his education in psychology to dissect the most complicated stories that human minds have to offer. His work is known to be fresh, and on topics that have never been touched before..."
EARLY LIFE & FAMILY
Born on 22nd January 1992, in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, Bhasme spent his early childhood on the vast coasts of Konkan area among the humble fishermen of the country.
His significant years of growing up, however, were spent in the district of Jalgaon, Maharashtra, where he finished his primary and secondary schooling from St. Joseph's Convent School.
It was here when he finished writing his first novel 'Boo in the well of dangers' at the tender age of 15, making him one of the youngest authors in the country.
Ajinkya's father is a retired agriculture officer while his mother is a criminal and consumer lawyer.
He hailed from a middle class family from a small town with little to no visibility, but his dreams were far from little.
Raised in a religion neutral environment, his family exposed him to the rich Indian literature and culture early on. From Bhagvad Gita, to Yajurrved and Meghdoot, from Hindu scriptures to Buddhist and Jain scriptures, he was exposed to everything. With Sanskrit being commonly spoken in his extended family, his granduncle used to translate original texts directly from Sanskrit. His grandfather and grandmother on the other hand, used to narrate to him stories from rich Marathi literature. Over the years, Bhasme found respect for each culture and tradition in the country through literature and wanted to contribute his bit early on. His modern stories, hence, are all set in a heavy cultural context that he prides comes from his family's decision of raising him with books as his friends. His love for horror and thriller stories however stems from his mother. After getting done with narrating every other epic in the house, a bored, hyper-energetic baby Ajinkya could only be calmed by the stories from his mother's courtroom cases.
Culture
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Bhasme is a Chemical Engineer from IIT Bombay. He further pursued his interest in psychology by doing a diploma in psychotherapy and forensic psychology.
He got placed as a scientist in Dr Reddy's from campus where he developed processes of life saving drugs. It was here where he started writing 'When the Devil Whispers'
Later he moved to UPL limited where he nurtured his interest on human behaviour and culture. It was during his time in UPL that he published his 3 bestselling books.
In 2022, he was employed with Swiss Re as a Vice President in People and Culture Development and was based in Bangalore.
He has also founded a mental health organisation called Zealopia and is the current CEO .
He is now embarking on an entrepreneurial journey in mental health
and is based out of Mumbai.
His 4th book has already gathered lot of momentum before its official release.
He is currently working on his 5th book in the horror genre.
Book Research
Bhasme is known for the astonishing lengths to which he goes to conduct research on his books.
For When the Devil Whispers he not only visited police, lawyers, prison surrounding the case, but also spent 4 nights in a slum in the surrounding of where the crime happened. It took him 4 years to finish the book because he did not want to interrogate people, but let them tell him their story organically.
For As Death Stared Back, he travelled through various mental institutions, rehabs and correctional facilities to gather data on the facilities and to understand psychological deviance better. He spent 2 years rounding institutions and studying mental deviance to finally write and publish the book.
For 7 hours at Bhata Road, he read through Vishnu Puran to understand levels of hell and how he could merge ancient texts with psychology. There are many clues in the novella for those who are versed with Vishnu Puran's definition of Narak.
INVOLVEMENT WITH BOLLYWOOD
All of Bhasme's books have sold their screen adaptation rights to top Bollywood producers. His '7 hours at Bhata Road' will star Vatsal Seth and Ishita Dutta
In addition to that, he was a consultant for the film 'Forensic' 2022, directed by Vishal Furia, starring Vikrant Massey and Radhika Apte.
Bhasme is also currently working on at least 3 films to provide stories.
Hobbies
Bhasme is a national level dancer and choreographer. He is proficient in 28 forms of dance. His student has won Dance India Dance lil Masters.
Bhasme was a national level swimmer and debater.
In his free time now, he continues to produce dance performances, paints, writes poems and plays badminton.
He is also active on Instagram spreading awareness on mental health through his cute comics.