He dreamed of playing cricket for his country. Instead, he changed India's entertainment industry. But the story starts long before Sunburn or Bollywood or the National Awards. It starts with a boy fleeing communal riots in Karnataka, arriving in Mumbai with nothing, and spending his afternoons in a darkened cinema with his mother and three samosas.

Shirdi Ke Sai Baba (1977) — one of the films his mother mistook for a documentary. Seven times.

Shailendra Singh grew up in a family that had escaped communal riots near his father's sugar mill on the Karnataka border. They settled in Mumbai — barely affording the hotel room they called home. His ADHD and dyslexia went undiagnosed through school. He struggled to read. He was ashamed of it.

But his mother had other ideas about education. She would drag him to Geeta and Lotus Cinema every afternoon — Garm Hava (1973), Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977), Shirdi Ke Sai Baba (1977) seven times because she was convinced it was a documentary. The torture became a passion. Cinema taught him what school couldn't. Stories became his first language.

Shailendra Singh with his father, the late Mr. Mangal Singh.

In 2013, Shailendra Singh almost died. A cardiac arrest after the loss of his father brought him face to face with every question he had spent decades avoiding.

Are you truly happy? Are you on the right track? Is this the life you actually want?

His answer, and India's answer with him: F?@k Knows. The book that followed became the HT-Nielsen #1 bestseller within 45 days. Not because it had answers — but because it was honest about not having them.

Shailendra Singh sees connections others miss. He starts things before others see the opportunity. He doesn't stay in one lane because he was never able to. Twenty-three startups in twenty-three years isn't ambition — it's a way of thinking.

Now he dreams even bigger. Focusing on the storytelling that has been the base of all of his success, Shailendra approaches it with no expectations and therefore, no limits. Made in India, for the world.

Keynote address — Night Mayor's Summit, Amsterdam, 2016.

"If a company or industry didn't exist — he created it."

Shailendra Singh calls himself an expressionist. Not in the art-historical sense — but in the most literal one. When an idea arrives, the only question is what form it demands. Sometimes a film. Sometimes a festival. Sometimes a business. The medium is never the point. If a story needs to be told, he wants to tell it.

No expectations, no limits

Every major thing Shailendra Singh has built started from the same position: no expectations and therefore no limits. Sunburn wasn't supposed to become Asia's largest music festival. Kachhe Din wasn't supposed to win 30 international awards. Ladoo isn't supposed to be anything yet — it just is what it is.

Now he’s applying the same philosophy to himself. In leaving his Percept empire behind, he’s made a shift. Shailendra Singh is no longer in business, he is the business.

"Bollywood has become driven by projects — revolving around an actor or director's available dates. I want to make storytelling the hero again."

This is not a new idea for Shailendra Singh. It has been his principle since Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (1999), where he insisted all 176 cast and crew were debuts. Since Kanchivaram (2008), made on 1.1 crore with Ambassador cars and shared cooking duties. Since Ladoo (2025), where he is simultaneously writer, director, producer and first-time Marathi filmmaker.

The story demands what it demands. He provides it.

For Shailendra Singh, creative expression has never been separate from social responsibility. The same instinct that built Sunburn — the belief that entertainment should do something, not just happen — led him to Guestlist4Good, where he convinced the world's biggest DJs to perform for free and used the proceeds to educate 128,200 children through Magic Bus. It led him to Earthian, a silent documentary about one man's search for meaning in the Himalayas, made not for commercial release but because the story needed to exist.

"Everything divides. Only love unites." It is the simplest summary of everything he has built. The festivals, the films, the philanthropy — all of it is an attempt to create moments where people forget what separates them and remember what doesn't.

The I Am An Earthian Campaign, envisioning a united Earthian family that celebrates and protects the only home that we have : Planet Earth.

Representing India, internationally :
Shailendra Singh has given keynote addresses at Amsterdam Dance Event, Night Mayor Summit, International Music Summit Ibiza and the Toronto Film Festival.

As a Youth icon : 
Shailendra Singh has motivated the new, young India at United Nations’ Young Changemakers Conclave, AIESEC, the British Deputy High Commission in Mumbai, TEDx and more…

As a Serial Entrepreneur :
Shailendra Singh has entertained corporates the likes of Barclays, BookmyShow, Magna, World Economic Forum, Indian Advertising Association, Rothschild & Co and FICCI.