Piyush Jha


Piyush Jha is a film director, screenwriter and author from India.

Early life

Piyush Jha was born in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. He did all his schooling in Mumbai, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of Mumbai 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- India. He later worked in DDB Mudra in strategic account management with clients such as Procter & Gamble and Godrej Group. 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, Hindustan Lever, and UB Group among many others.

Feature films

In 2000, the Government of India's NFDC produced his first feature film, Chalo America, about three Indian college boys obsessed with the American dream, 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, 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" genre, King of Bollywood, starring Om Puri and British supermodel Sophie Dahl. It tells the story of an aging Bollywood 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. 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.

Personal life

Jha is married to Priyanka Sinha Jha, the Group Editor - Entertainment of the Network18 Group.

Writing

Piyush Jha has been called the Dashiell Hammett 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 revolve around a Mumbai-based policeman, Inspector Virkar, and his cat and mouse chase with murderers and serial killers.
Jha's latest 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.
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.

Filmography

Writer and director