Biography

Vijay Singh is a historian, filmmaker and writer living in Paris (not to be confused with the Fidgian golfer Vijay Singh).

Vijay Singh is an Indian film-maker and writer living in Paris.

After studying History at St Stephen's College at Delhi University, and then at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he moved to the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, for his doctoral work.

While he was still a student in the early eighties, he started contributing articles to the French press and wrote extensively for Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Libération, and also The Guardian and several other newspapers and magazines.

Over the years, he began to devote more time and energy to literary work. He is the author of several books that have won wide critical acclaim: 'Jaya Ganga, In Search of the River Goddess', (Ramsay1985, Penguin1989, Rupa2005, Ginkgo2005), 'La Nuit Poignardée' (Flammarion, 1987), 'Whirpool of Shadows' (Jonathan Cape1992, Rupa 2005), a book for children, 'The River Goddess' (Gallimard Jeunesse/Moonlight, 1994), Gange, fleuve et déesse (Editions de la Flandonnière 2014) His books have been translated and published in French and other European languages.

Many years after he wrote and directed a play, 'Waiting for Beckett by Godote (1976), he made 'Man and Elephant'/'Chami & Ana The Elephant' (1989/1990) a film produced by Bodega Films and which has been shown on nearly 100 television channels worldwide.

The internationally-acclaimed 'Jaya Ganga' was his first feature film (www.vijaysingh.net) It ran for over 49 weeks on the Paris screens before going on to play in 80 cinemas in the UK. It was also shown in several festivals, often in the competition category.

His second feature, 'One Dollar Curry', was commercially released in France in November 2004, and subsequently in the UK and India. In 2010 he made the film, 'India by Song' which won the River to River Digichannel Audience Award for Best Documentary at the River to River 2010 Florence Indian Film Festival in Italy.

His latest film (2016) is 'Farewell My Indian Soldier' (French title: 'Adieu mon soldat indien'; first presented as 'Mademoiselle France pleure')

Vijay Singh was awarded the Prix Villa Médicis hors les murs for foreign literature in 1990, the Bourse Léonardo de Vinci in1994, the Director in Focus Award in Dublin in 2012, the Roll of Honour award by the Board of Governors of the Punjab Public School Nabha, India
- IMDb mini biography by: mandakini narain