Mahendra Jakhar is an ex-journalist currently working as an independent screenwriter and author based in Mumbai. He started as a journalist in Delhi with The Times of India, where he worked for six years before moving to Mumbai to pursue his dreams of being a scriptwriter.

His first novel The Butcher of Benares was published by Westland Publications. It was rated as the Best Crime Fiction Debut Novel of the Year by Mint, The Economic Times, and was an Amazon Rising Star. The book has been adapted as a Netflix series Mandala Murders by Yash Raj Entertainment. His other novels include The Swastika Killer, Chakra Warriors, Housewife and The Diary of a Prostitute. As a scriptwriter, he wrote the script for the Hindi feature film Manjhi—The Mountain Man directed by Ketan Mehta, and starring Nawazuddin Siddique and Radhika Apte. Earlier, he has written scripts for Mahesh Bhatt’s The Killer, starring Irrfan Khan and Emran Hashmi, Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Shaagird, and many television shows including CID, Maano Ya Na Maano, Seeta aur Geeta, Dwarikadhish, and others.

His film script Bhiwani, based on the boxers of Haryana, was selected for the International Film Festival of India, for the competitive section at Film Bazaar.

Mahendra also conducts workshops on screenwriting, to help discover the creativity, imagination and ideas hidden in every person. He’s a TEDx speaker and has taken creativity workshops for The Times of India, IIT Kanpur and IIM Ranchi, among others.

You can reach him at:
[email protected]
X (formerly Twitter): @mahenjakhar
Instagram: @mahenjakharworld