Samrat : How The Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever by Sujata Anandan

Full of anecdotes and pulling no punches, Samrat explores the life and times of Bal Thackeray and attempts to bring to the readers a unique insight into how a rather timid man from the working classes was shaped by his circumstances-and certain vested interests-into becoming a demagogue with the kind of success and following few could either dream of or replicate in the future. Thackeray not just changed the name of Bombay to Mumbai but quite altered the character and fabric of the city even though he was driven not by ideology, as might have seemed to most outsiders, but by his own pragmatism and personal interests. As Vir Sanghvi says in the foreword, The book is an attempt to understand the milieu that Thackeray operated in and to capture the essence of his style amidst the shifting stands and the politics of pragmatism.

About the Author: Sujata Anandan

Sujata Anandan, a journalist for nearly three decades, has lived through the turbulent decades of upheaval in contemporary Indian politics and has closely observed the rise and fall of the Shiv Sena through those years. She has worked for leading newspapers like The Indian Express, magazines like Outlook and a wire service (United News of India). A versatile writer, Sujata has distinguished herself as a political analyst with sharp insights. She emulates the style of her subject matter for this book-Bal Thackeray-in telling it like it is. As a young correspondent she specialized in conflict and disaster news coverage, riots, massacres, cyclones and earthquakes in different parts of the world and has also faced occasional rough weather in the newsroom. She makes Western India her home and is currently employed by the Hindustan Times as its Political Editor (West) in the Mumbai office.