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Vijay
Singh is an Indian novelist, screenplay-writer and film-maker living in
Paris.
A graduate in History from St Stephen's College, Delhi, with a
postgraduate degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he
moved to Paris for doctoral work at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sciences Sociales. This move-over was precipitated principally by his
passion for French literature and surrealism, particularly after a
chance encounter with André Breton’s Manifestoes
of
Surrealism.
While still a student in Paris, he started contributing articles to the
French press in the early eighties. This was the beginning of his
career as a journalist. He has written extensively for several leading
French and international newspapers such as Le Monde, Le Monde
Diplomatique, Libération and The Guardian, covering some of
the
most turbulent events of that epoch – Operation Blue Star,
the
Bhopal Gas tragedy, Indira Gandhi’s assassination and its
gruesome aftermath…
In 1984, a leading French publisher asked him to write a book on India.
Vijay Singh decided to undertake a long and hazardous journey down the
holy river Ganges, from its source in the snow-bound Himalayas to the
Bay of Bengal. With this “pilgrimage” as the
central
thread, and a surrealist Franco-Indian love-story as his inspiration,
he wrote his first novel, Jaya Ganga, In Search of the River Goddess
(Ramsay 1985, Penguin 1989, Rupa 2005). The book received stupendous
response from the entire French press.
Since then, Vijay Singh has written several books that have won wide
critical acclaim internationally: La Nuit Poignardée
(Flammarion, 1987), Whirlpool of Shadows (Jonathan Cape, 1992, Rupa
1992, 2005) and a dreamy tale for children, The River Goddess
(Gallimard Jeunesse/Moonlight, 1994). Whirlpool of Shadows was listed
by the 1992 Booker Prize Winner, Barry Unsworth, as one his three Best
Books of the Year in The Sunday Times, UK.
Vijay Singh’s entry into the world of images and cinema was
pure
accident. In 1989, a young French producer knocked at his door. He
didn’t have any specific project or film in mind, but he
nevertheless insisted on doing a documentary with Vijay Singh.
Singh’s idea to make a documentary on the theme of man and
animal
led to the making of Man and Elephant, a 30’ film, part
fiction
part documentary, on the relationship between an elephant keeper and
his elephant in Kerala. To date, this film has been shown on over 100
televisions worldwide.
Jaya Ganga was Vijay Singh’s first feature film, an
adaptation of
his earlier novel. It premiered in competition at the World Film
Festival, Montreal, and then travelled to over 50 international
festivals. It ran for 49 weeks in the Paris cinemas before playing on
80 screens in the UK. The film received tremendous press response
internationally. The Guardian called it “a mesmerising
film...One
of the most authentic depictions of everyday Indian magic ever
screened.”
His second feature film, One Dollar Curry, was shot entirely in Paris
and released in France and the UK. It ran to full houses for several
weeks in North India and was highly acclaimed by the press.
Vijay Singh is now working on a screen adaptation of his novel,
Whirlpool of Shadows, and hopes to shoot the film in 2007.
Vijay Singh has been a guest speaker at several conferences held
worldwide and has also made individual presentations of his work at the
Universities of Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford. He has also held
workshops for film students on “Literature and
Cinema” at
the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.
He was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Award for the screenplay of Jaya
Ganga, La Titine Best Film Award for his documentary Man and Elephant,
and the Prix Villa Médicis hors les murs Award for foreign
literature.
FILMS
Shadi Lal
A Mystic Chef, 1986
MAN AND
ELEPHANT, 1990
JAYA GANGA
(Jaya Fille du Gange) 1996
ONE DOLLAR
CURRY, 2003
WHIRLPOOL
OF SHADOWS, 2007 in development
ANOUCHKA,
2008, in development
BHOPALI, a
screenplay with Biyyala Rao, 2004
INDIAN
NOCTURNE, a film by Alain Corneau, translation-adaptation of the
dialogue
BOOKS
  
IN ENGLISH
JAYA GANGA
(Penguin books, London, Delhi 1990. Rupa 2005)
WHIRLPOOL
OF SHADOWS (Jonathan Cape, London, 1992. Rupa1992, 2005)
THE RIVER
GODDESS, (Moonlight- Gallimard, London,
1994)
IN FRENCH
JAYA
GANGA, LE GANGE ET SON DOUBLE (Ramsay, Paris1985,
Gingko, 2005)
L’INDE,
Editions Autrement, 1986, co-author.
LA NUIT
POIGNARDEE ( Flammarion, Paris, 1987)
TOURBILLON
D’OMBRES, (Editions Ramsay, 1992 ? Ginkgo 2005).
LA DEESEE
QUI DEVINT FLEUVE (Gallimard Jeunesse, 1993).
ESCALE
D’AUTEUR (Editions du Palais, Paris, 2001), co-author
UNE
PREMIERE FOIS, co-author with Gabriella Wright, Editions du Seuil,
Paris, 2004
THEATRE
WAITING
FOR BECKETT BY GODOT, staged in Delhi 1976.
HASSAN’S
DREAMS, a partial adaptation and translation of A
Thousand and One Nights.
Performed in Norway, France in 1993.
DOCUMENTARIES
SHADI LAL, A MYSTIC COOK, 1986
MAN AND ELEPHANT, 1990
FEATURE
FILMS
JAYA GANGA (Jaya, Fille du Gange) 1996
ONE DOLLAR CURRY, 2004
WHIRLPOOL OF SHADOWS, in development
ANOUCHKA, in development
SCREENPLAYS
JAYA GANGA
ONE DOLLAR CURRY
WHIRLPOOL OF SHADOWS
BHOPALI, a screenplay written with Biyyala Rao, 2004
CONTRIBUTION TO SCREENPLAYS :
INDIAN NOCTURNE, a film by Alain Corneau, translation-adaptation of the
dialogue
BOOKS
TITLES IN ENGLISH
JAYA GANGA (Penguin books, London, Delhi
1990. Rupa 2005)
WHIRLPOOL OF SHADOWS (Jonathan Cape,
London, 1992. Rupa1992, 2005)
THE RIVER GODDESS, (Moonlight-Gallimard,
London, 1994)
TITLES IN FRENCH
JAYA GANGA, LE GANGE ET SON DOUBLE
(Ramsay, Paris1985, Gingko, 2005)
L’INDE, Editions Autrement,
1986, co-author
LA NUIT POIGNARDEE (Flammarion, Paris,
1987)
TOURBILLON D’OMBRES, (Editions
Ramsay, 1992, Ginkgo 2005).
LA DEESEE QUI DEVINT FLEUVE (Gallimard
Jeunesse, 1993).
ESCALE D’AUTEUR (Editions du
Palais, Paris, 2001), co-author
UNE PREMIERE FOIS, co-author with
Gabriella Wright, Editions du Seuil, Paris,
2004
TITLE IN GERMAN
DIE GÖTTIN, die sich in einen Fluss verwandelt
(Kauffmann.Klett, 1994)
TITLE IN DUTCH
EEN GODIN WORDT EEN RIVIER (Zwijsen, 1994)
THEATRE
WAITING FOR BECKETT BY GODOT, written
and directed in New Delhi, 1976.
HASSAN’S DREAMS, a partial
adaptation and
translation of A Thousand and One
Nights. Performed
in Norway and France in 1993.
JOURNALISM
France
Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Libération, Le Nouvel
Observateur, L'Evénement du Jeudi, La Quinzaine
Littéraire, Le Point, Actuel…
UK
The Guardian, Pen International
India
The Times of India, Indian Express, India Today
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