| Shankar | |
|---|---|
| Born | Shankar Subramaniam 17 August 1964 Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Residence | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation | Film director, producer, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1993-present |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Shankar Subramaniam (Tamil: ஷங்கர்; born 17 August 1964) is an Indian film director and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He made his directional debut in Gentleman (1993) for which he was awarded the Filmfare Best Director Award. He is the highest paid film-maker in India among his contemporaries.[1]
Two of his films, Indian (1996) and Jeans (1998) were submitted by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His production venture Veyyil won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil in 2007. In 2007, he was awarded an Honorary doctorate by M. G. R. University. He is generally known for making high-budget films in the Tamil movie industry.
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Shankar was born on August 17, 1964 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India to Muthulakshmi and Shanmugam. He completed a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Central Polytechnic College Tharamani, before entering film industry.[2]
Shankar began his career as an assistant to film directors like S. A. Chandrasekhar and Pavithran.[2] His first break in Hindi films was as an assistant director to S. A. Chandrasekhar in Jai Shiv Shankar produced by Rajesh Khanna. In 1993, he made his directional debut through Gentleman. Starring Arjun Sarja in the lead role, the film was made with a higher budget in Tamil cinema during that time.[3] A. R. Rahman, the film's composer continued to work with Shankar in his following 6 directorial ventures.
His second film Kadhalan, a romantic-action film was released in the following year, had Prabhu Deva in the lead role. In 1996, he colloborated with Kamal Haasan for Indian. The film was both critically acclaimed as well as a commercial success. The film was selected as the country's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Following the success of Indian, Shankar began to work on Jeans, yet another high-budgeted film surpassing Ratchagan. The film released in 1998, enjoyed phenomenal success in India.
He made his production debut through Mudhalvan (1999), was launched with Rajinikanth playing the lead. After the actor cited schedule conflicts, Arjun Sarja joined the project. At the same time, Shankar started to work on his next film which was supposed to be a science fiction film titled Robot, but the project could not move forward due to an immensely large budget. Instead, he opted to remake Mudhalvan in Hindi as Nayak, thus making his Bollywood debut.
His musical entertainer film Boys was released in 2003,which was praised by critics for its depiction of youth in general. His psychological thriller Anniyan, featuring Vikram in three distinct characters was released in 2005 with Harris Jayaraj as the composer for his film. Shortly after the release of Anniyan', it was reported that Shankar had teamed up with Rajinikanth and AVM Productions for a film. His renewed his association with A. R. Rahman with the film. Sivaji was made at a budget of 60 crores,[4] the most expensive Indian film at that time. After two years of filming, the film released in 2007 with much fanfare and hype across the globe. Ultimately it went on to become the highest grossing Tamil film of that time.[5]
Following Sivaji, Shankar revisited the possibility of beginning his shelved science fiction venture. After an unsuccessful attempt to bring the project to Bollywood with Shahrukh Khan in the lead, he later decided to make the project in Tamil with Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai. The film was produced by South Indian media proprietor, Kalanithi Maran, and was renamed as Enthiran and was made on a budget of 132 crores, the most expensive Indian film. The film broke Sivaji's record and became the highest grossing Tamil film as well as the highest grossing Indian film.[6][7] After initial reports indicating that Shankar's next film is entitled to be with Siddharth, Shankar started to work as the director of Nanban, the Tamil remake of the 2009 Hindi film 3 Idiots starring Vijay, Jeeva and Srikanth.[8]
| Year | Film | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | Notes | ||
| 1993 | Gentleman | Yes | Yes | Filmfare Best Director Award Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Director |
|
| 1994 | Kadhalan | Yes | Yes | Filmfare Best Director Award | |
| 1996 | Indian | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1998 | Jeans | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1999 | Mudhalvan | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2001 | Nayak | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2003 | Boys | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2004 | Kaadhal | Yes | |||
| 2005 | Anniyan | Yes | Yes | Filmfare Best Director Award Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Director |
|
| 2006 | Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi | Yes | |||
| Veyil | Yes | National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil Filmfare Best Film Award Cannes Film Festival 2007 - Screened under TOUS LES CINEMAS DU MONDE |
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| 2007 | Sivaji | Yes | Yes | Special appearance | |
| Kalloori | Yes | ||||
| 2008 | Arai Enn 305-il Kadavul | Yes | |||
| 2009 | Eeram | Yes | |||
| 2010 | Rettaisuzhi | Yes | |||
| Anandhapurathu Veedu | Yes | ||||
| Enthiran | Yes | Yes | Vijay Award for Favourite Director Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Director - Tamil |
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| 2012 | Nanban | Yes | Post-Production |
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