B. P. Singh

Brijendra Pal Singh came from Dehradun, in what is now Uttarakhand. He trained in film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, a background colleagues later credited for his strong technical command of the camera.

Singh joined Doordarshan, India's state broadcaster, in 1973 as a news cameraman and handled the camera for about a decade. For Doordarshan he made the murder mystery television film Sirf Char Din, featuring Nana Patekar among others. While preparing it he visited the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police and became friends with Inspector Jayant Wagle, which sparked his lasting interest in detective work. He then produced the series Ek Shunya Shunya for Doordarshan in the 1980s and made several Marathi serials.

Aahat was shot from 1994 and went on air in 1995 as a suspense thriller. After about 40 episodes a single supernatural episode drew much higher ratings, and the show became a horror series that ran in several seasons until 2015.

The arrival of Sony TV brought his turning point. CID, about a team of detectives in the Crime Investigation Department in Mumbai, began in 1998 and ran until 2018, returning in 2024. It made household names of ACP Pradyuman, Inspector Daya and Inspector Abhijeet. On 8 October 2004, to mark six years on air, the show filmed a 111 minute episode in a single continuous shot, recognised by the Limca Book of Records and Guinness World Records as the longest continual shot in a television show. In 2010 the programme started the CID Gallantry Awards. Singh himself appeared from time to time as DCP Shamsher Singh Chitrole.

Through Fireworks Productions he also made Gutur Gu (2010), described as India's first silent comedy series, the police drama Khaaki and the Life OK crime series Hum Ne Li Hai Shapath. He served as chairman of FTII and as president of the Indian Film and Television Directors' Association (IFTDA).

Singh was married to Renu B. P. Singh, who is Canadian. Friends described him as warm and generous, and the actors who worked with him for decades remembered him as a teacher as well as a director. Ashoke Pandit said that in his later years he had been in poor health and had been through very hard times.

B. P. Singh died early on the morning of Tuesday 27 October 2026 in Mumbai, aged 77, after a massive heart attack. The news was shared by the filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, who told News9 that he had taken Singh to a hospital in Santacruz but that he had already died. Producer J. D. Majethia also confirmed the death.

Pandit described him as an ace producer and director and a brilliant filmmaker who captivated the nation with CID and Aahat. An actor who worked with him for more than 24 years remembered him as a wonderful teacher, a thorough professional and a great human being. His last rites were to be performed on 28 October 2026.

CID became a fixture of Indian popular culture, and its catchphrases and characters lived on through decades of reruns and memes. With CID and Aahat, Singh set the template for crime and horror programming on Indian television, and his single take episode of 2004 remains one of the medium's best known technical feats in India. Ashoke Pandit said that nobody could match his style of making thrillers.