Shankar Shanmugam (Tamil: ஷங்கர் சண்முகம்; born August 17, 1963) is a Tamil film director and producer who prominently works in Tamil cinema. He is known for making films with record-breaking budgets. Initially working as an assistant director to S. A. Chandrasekhar, Shankar directed his first film, Gentleman, in 1993.
His commercially successful films Indian (1995) and Jeans (1998) were nominated by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He was also awarded with the Filmfare Best Tamil Director Award and Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Director for Anniyan (2005). His two productions, the self-directed Mudhalvan (1999) and Veyyil (2006), were awarded with the Filmfare Best Tamil Film Award; the latter also received a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.
Shankar was born on August 17, 1963 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India to his mother, Muthulakshmi, and father, Shanmugam. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering.
Background
Career
Early career and breakthrough: 1990-1995
Shankar began his career as an assistant to film director and producer, S. A. Chandrasekhar. He was later appointed as an assistant director to director Pavithran in his 1991 Tamil film, Vasanthakala Paravai, starring R. Sarathkumar.
In 1993, he decided to become an independent director and, thus, began Gentleman. Starring Arjun Sarja in the lead, the film was made with the highest budget in Tamil cinema at the time and eventually became a high grosser following release. The film's music director, A. R. Rahman, would continue his partnership with Shankar for his following 6 directorials. The following year, he worked with Prabhu Deva for the romantic comedy film, Kadhalan.
Critical success: 1996-2001
In 1995, he began his next high-budget film, Indian, with Kamal Haasan in the lead playing two roles. Upon release on Indian Independence Day of 1996, the film, which also released in other local Indian languages, saw a large opening and received national fame for the film's patriotic nature. The Government of India selected the film as the country's submission to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the United States for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Immediately following the success of Indian, Shankar began to work on Jeans, a romance film which was produced on the highest film budget in Indian cinema at the time. After two year of filming in both India and the US, the film released in 1998, enjoying phenomenal success across India and internationally. Once again, Shankar was honoured with having the film being submitted by India for an Academy Award. The film also turned out to be a landmark film for its stars, Prashanth Thyagarajan and Aishwarya Rai.
After beginning his own production studio, S Pictures, his last film of the decade, the self-produced Mudhalvan, was launched indicating that Rajinikanth would play the lead. After the actor's cited schedule conflicts, Shankar roped in Arjun for the project once again. Released in 1999, the film emulated the same success as before. Initial reports of Shankar's next film to be a science fiction filmtitled Robot were released, but the project could not move forward due to an immensely large budget the project required. He instead opted to remake Mudhalvan in Hindi as Nayak, making his foray into Bollywood.
Ups and downs: 2002-2005
His film Boys released in 2003 as a musical blockbuster but was only a moderate grosser, partially because of the controversy it had caused due to its mature theme. The film was responsible for introducing Siddharth, Bharath, and Nakul as well as providing Genelia D'Souza her first commercial success.
In 2003, Shankar began his next project, Anniyan, featuring Vikram in three distinct characters. A psychological thriller, the film was made with a record-breaking budget and was a blockbuster of its release year, 2005. For the first time, Harris Jayaraj composed music for the film, rather than Rahman. The film was known for being made with the most amount of cameras and winning the most amount of awards for a single film during the following year's awards ceremonies. Prior to release, the film was mistakenly speculated as Shankar's science fiction film, Robot, which he announced in 2001.
International attention: 2006-present
Immediately after Anniyan's release, it was reported that Shankar had teamed up with Rajinikanth and AVM Productions for a film, causing flutter among the media. Rahman also returned for continuing his partnership with the director. The film, again made on a record-breaking budget was titled as Sivaji and after two years of filming, released in 2007 with much international fanfare and hype. It ultimately became the highest grossing Indian film of its time. Shankar also made a short special appearance in the film, making it his first appearance on screen.
Following Sivaji's success, Shankar revisited the possibility of beginning his long-shelved science fiction venture. After an unsuccessful attempt to do the project in Bollywood with Shahrukh Khan in the lead, he later decided to work with the project in Tamil with Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai, both working a second time with Shankar. The film was renamed as Endhiran and, yet again, was made on the highest film budget in Indian cinema. The film in October 2010 as the first ever Indian science fiction film, generating highly positive reviews and critical acclaim.
After intial reports indicating Shankar's next film to be with Siddharth, it was later reported that Shankar will be working as director for Rascal, the Tamil remake of the 2009 Bollywood film 3 Idiots, which is expected to star Vijay in the lead. If made, it will be Shankar's first remake film since Nayak.
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