He is a historian based in Bangalore. He is the author of nine acclaimed books, including Splendours of Royal Mysore: The Untold Story of the Wodeyars, Voice of the Veena: S. Balachander, Women of the Records and Indian Classical Music and the Gramophone. His two-volume biography Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past and Savarkar: A Contested Legacy , Bravehearts of Bharat: Vignettes from Indian History and his latest book ‘Waiting for Shiva: Unearthing the Truth of Kashi’s Gyan Vapi’ have all gone on to become national bestsellers. In 2021, Vikram was elected a fellow of the prestigious Royal Historical Society.

He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi’s first Yuva Puraskar in English literature and the ARSC International Award for excellence in historical research in New York for his book My Name Is Gauhar Jaan: The Life and Times of a Musician. The book has even been adapted for a play, Gauhar, by Lillette Dubey.

He was among four writers and artists selected as writers-in-residence at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in 2015. Vikram has a doctorate in history and music from the University of Queensland, Australia, and was a senior research fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi (2017–2019). He was also a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network,  Eisenhower Global Fellow and a visiting fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin. Currently, he is an adjunct senior fellow at Monash University, Australia. He is the Founder of the Archive of Indian Music and the Foundation for Indian Historical and Cultural Research (FIHCR) that fosters new scholarship in Indian history, and curates ARTH: A Culture Fest.