Filmmaker Prakash Jha (Gangaajal, Rajneeti, Aarakshan) is working on a biopic about renowned mathematician Vashishtha Narayan Singh. The film will be produced by Vinay Sinha and Priti Sinha, according to a press release.
“D Vashishtha Narayan Singh, the brilliant mathematician from Bihar is our national treasure,” Jha said. “His life is so inspiring, I would love to direct a biopic on him.”
Singh was born in April 1942 in a village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district. He did his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. According to multiple reports, he also worked at NASA, though this has not been confirmed. In 1969, Singh returned to India to teach at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He later taught at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai and the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata.
Singh was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the late 1970s and owing to his deteriorating health, stopped teaching. In 1987, he went missing for about four years, but was eventually tracked down by his family.
“His is a story of tremendous highs and lows and now we are all set to produce a film on him. I couldn’t be happier,” Vinay Sinha said.