Chandra, Vikram (1961-…), is an Indian novelist and short story writer. His fiction combines the characteristics of the novel and short story. Chandra uses a variety of narrative techniques drawn from the storytelling traditions of Indian literature and cinema.
Chandra’s novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain (1995) is a long, sprawling, complicated novel that has many characters and storylines. The main structural device is that of a storyteller telling a long tale to avoid a death sentence, much as Scheherezade does in the collection of stories known as The Thousand and One Nights. This storyteller is later joined by others. The novel takes in characters from different periods in Indian history and has stories set in several different countries and times. Its title comes from a poem in the Tamil anthology of poetry Kuruntokai.
Love and Longing in Bombay (1997) is a collection of stories linked by two characters: a narrator and a storyteller. The stories’ titles link each one to a different Hindu religious concept, such as dharma (duty) or kama (love). Sacred Games (2006) is a long epic crime novel set in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). A central character is police detective Sartaj Singh, who first appeared in Love and Longing in Bombay.
Chandra was born on July 23, 1961, in New Delhi. He was educated at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai (Bombay) from 1978 to 1981 and at several American universities. He began writing fiction after dropping out of film school at Columbia University in New York City. He taught at several universities in the United States. In addition to writing fiction, Chandra has written for Indian television.
