Vikram Chandra Biography

Popular Indian author Vikram Chandra shot into the limelight with his novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain and a collection of short stories, Love & Longing in Bombay. Born in New Delhi in 1961, Vikram Chandra did his schooling in Ajmer, Rajasthan and his college education in Mumbai, before moving to the United States for his graduation.

He went on to attend film school at the Columbia University. In the University library, he happened to flip through the autobiography of James Skinner, a legendary nineteenth century Anglo-Indian soldier. This book became the inspiration for Vikram Chandra's novel, Red Earth and Pouring Rain. He did not complete film school, but immersed himself in writing the novel.

The novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain won Vikram Chandra the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book and the David Higham Prize for Fiction. His collection of short stories, Love and Longing in Bombay, was published in 1997 and won rave reviews. It won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Eurasia region) and was short-listed for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Love and Longing in Bombay was included in "Notable Books of 1997" by the New York Times Book Review, in "Books of the Year" by the Independent (London), and in "Best Books of the Year" by the Guardian (London).

In the year 2000, Vikram served as co-writer, for the Hindi movie Mission Kashmir. Vikram's mother Kamna Chandra has written several Hindi films and plays which include movies like Prem Rog and 1942: A Love Story. His new novel Sacred Games has elicited a tremendous response from readers and publishers worldwide.