Piyush Jha is a

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and series creator from India.

Early life

Piyush Jha was born in

Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh Jhansi ( ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. (Toshan) Balwant Nagar was the old name of Jhansi. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand, on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the ...

. He did all his schooling in Mumbai, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology at the

University of Mumbai University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

and following it up with an MBA from K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research.

Career

Advertising

Jha began his career in advertising as an account executive at

Grey Global Group Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities. It is organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asi ...

- India. He later worked in DDB Mudra in strategic account management with clients such as

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

and

Godrej Group Godrej Enterprises Group (Including Godrej & Boyce and its affiliates) is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. G&B was founded in 1897 by Ardeshir Godrej and Pirojsha Burjorji Godrej. The company is known for developing one of th ...

. He started getting interested in the creative aspect of advertising and began with directing in-house ad films for client companies and soon moved to directing corporate films as well. In 1998, he took this interest further to start his own ad film production company, where he made ads for

Indian Oil Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL or IOC), trading as IndianOil, is an Indian multinational oil and gas company under the ownership of the Government of India and administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It i ...

Hindustan Lever Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is an Indian fast-moving consumer goods company, headquartered in Mumbai. It is a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents, personal care products a ...

, and

UB Group United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL), also called UB Group, is the Indian subsidiary of Heineken N.V.. It is headquartered in UB City, Bangalore, Karnataka. Its core business includes beverages and investments in various sectors. The comp ...

among many others.

Feature films

In 2000, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

's NFDC produced his first feature film, '' Chalo America'', about three Indian college boys obsessed with

the American dream The "American Dream" is a phrase referring to a purported national ethos of the United States: that every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life. The phrase was popularized by James Truslow Adams during the ...

, and how they concoct various schemes to find a way to the US. It was a selection at the Indian Panorama Section at the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

(IFFI), and was shown at international film festivals such as those in Shanghai, Cairo, San Diego, Dhaka, and Atlanta. After continuing to make ad films, Jha returned to the big screen in 2004, with the first Indian film in the "

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

" genre, '' King of Bollywood'', starring

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri, (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, English, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Marathi films, as well as ind ...

and British supermodel

Sophie Dahl Sophie Dahl (born Sophie Holloway on 15 September 1977) is an English author and former fashion model. Her first novel, ''The Man with the Dancing Eyes'', was published in 2003 followed by ''Playing With the Grown-ups'' in 2007. In 2009, she w ...

. It tells the story of an aging

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

movie star. In 2009, after his extensive travels around India and the world, Jha decided to pick up on another serious issue: terrorism in

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

. '' Sikandar'' is a story about a young boy who finds a gun on his way to school, and how that affects his life, and the life of the little village he lives in. ''Sikandar'' was selected in the international film festivals in Dubai, IFFLA in LA, Edmonton in Canada, MIACC in New York, and Stuttgart in Germany, among others. The film was highly acclaimed by critics, including those of the mainstream popular media (

Nikhat Kazmi Nikhat Kazmi (1958/59 – 20 January 2012) was a senior correspondent and well-known film critic from, born Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, who had been writing for ''The Times of India'' since 1987. She died of breast cancer Breast cancer is a c ...

, renowned film critic of the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'', India's largest selling English daily, gave it a 3.5 star rating).

Personal life

Jha is married to news-media personality Priyanka Sinha Jha.

Writing

Piyush Jha has been called the

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...

of Mumbai. Jha is the author of bestselling crime and thriller novels. His debut novel, ''Mumbaistan'', is a collection of three crime fiction thriller novellas which explore the underbelly of Mumbai. The books ''Compass Box Killer'' and ''Anti-Social Network'' from Jha's Inspector Virkar- Crime Thriller Series revolve around a Mumbai-based policeman, Inspector Virkar, and his cat and mouse chase with murderers and serial killers. Jha's standalone crime fiction book ''Raakshas: India's No. 1 Serial Killer'' is about a female police commissioner Maithili Prasad's encounter with an anonymous serial killer, who murders women by decapitating them. Jha's fifth book, Girls of Mumbaistan comprise 3 hi-octane thriller novellas featuring female and transgender protagonists and their adventures in Mumbai. Apart from crime fiction, Jha has also written a satirical e-novellas on the Juggernaut Books digital app, called ''The Great Indian Bowel Movement'' and ''The Urinationalist''. These e-shorts talk about issues of open defecation, public urination and inadequate sanitation in India. Jha is also a columnist. He writes a regular column in the ''Hindustan Times'' and a guest column in ''The Tribune'' on books and book-related happenings. Piyush Jha adapted his third book "Anti- Social Network", from his Inspector Virkar Crime-Thriller series of books into a web series ''

Chakravyuh – An Inspector Virkar Crime Thriller '' Chakravyuh – An Inspector Virkar Crime Thriller'' is a Hindi-language Indian crime thriller MX Player, MX Original web series, directed by Sajit Warrier and produced by Applause Entertainment Ltd, Kailash Surendranath, Arti Surendranath an ...

'' (2021). The show was produced by Applause Entertainment and MayaVid for MXPlayer platform. Chakravyuh was critically quite successful and rose to the no.1 spot on the charts in its first week itself.

Filmography and works

Writer and director

*'' Chalo America'' (1999) *'' King of Bollywood'' (2004) *'' Sikandar'' (2009)

TV/OTT/web shows

*''

'' (2021) - This MX Original

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

is based on Piyush Jha's third book "Anti- Social Network", from his Inspector Virkar Crime-Thriller series of books

Audio-fiction/podcast shows

*'' Bombay Strangler Ke Khauffnaak Tapes'' (2021) - Piyush Jha has recently Written and Creatively Directed this 8-episode, full-cast Amazon

Audible Original Audible is an American online audiobook and podcast service that allows users to purchase and stream audiobooks and other forms of spoken-word content. This content can be purchased individually or under a subscription model in which the user re ...

audio-fiction series.

Bibliography

Novels

*'' Mumbaistan'' (2012) *''Compass Box Killer: An Inspector Vikrar Crime Thriller'' (2013) *''Anti-Social Network: An Inspector Vikrar Crime Thriller'' (2014) *''Raakshas: India's No. 1 Serial Killer'' (2016) *''Girls Of Mumbaistan'' (2020)

Short stories

*"The Great Indian Bowel Movement" (2017) *"The Urinationalist" (2019)

Festival official selections

*'' Chalo America'': Indian Panorama Section at the International Film Festival of India, 1999; and the international film festivals of Shanghai, Cairo, San Diego, Dhaka, and Atlanta, amongst others. *'' King of Bollywood'': international film festivals in Bradford, UK (Bite the Mango Festival); Tel Aviv, Israel; New York City; Toronto, Canada; Melbourne, Australia, and others. *'' Sikandar'': international film festivals, Dubai, IFFLA in LA, Edmonton in Canada, MIACC in New York, and Stuttgart in Germany, among others.

Award nominations

* ''Sikandar'' was nominated for the Ramnath Goenka Award for 'Movies That Make a Difference' at the 2010 Star Screen Awards. * ''Parzaan Dastur'' was nominated for Best Child Artiste for his eponymous role in ''Sikandar'' at the 2010 Star Screen Awards. * ''Parzaan Dastur'' was nominated for BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE – MALE at The Max Stardust Awards 2010. * ''Mumbaistan'' was long-listed for the Tata Lit Live Best First Book Award-2012.

References

External links

* * Piyush Jha o
Goodreads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jha, Piyush Living people University of Mumbai alumni Hindi-language film directors Indian male screenwriters People from Jhansi Film directors from Mumbai Indian crime fiction writers English-language writers from India 21st-century Indian novelists Indian male novelists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Indian screenwriters