Lokesh Kanagaraj

Lokesh Kanagaraj was born in Kinathukadavu, Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu, India to a Tamil family.^[1] In PSG College of Arts and Science, he majored in Fashion Technology before pursuing an MBA.^[2] He did his schooling in Vivek Vidhyalaya Matric Hr. Sec. School Kinathukadavu.^[3] He is an ex-bank employee. He pursued his passion towards film making by participating in a corporate short film competition. The judge of the competition was Karthik Subbaraj. Impressed with his short film, he encouraged Lokesh to pursue a directorial career making films.^[4]

Lokesh made his directorial debut with the short film, Acham Thavir (2012), which won awards for Best Director, Best Film and Best Actor at the Clubace short film festival.^[5] In 2016, his short film Kalam was included in the anthology film Aviyal, produced by Karthik Subbaraj.^[6] He directed his first feature film, Maanagaram,^[7] in 2017, followed by the 2019 action thriller Kaithi produced by Dream Warrior Pictures, with Karthi in the lead role.^[8][9]

Lokesh's next film, Master, released in January 2021 and starring Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, received positive reviews and became the highest-grossing Indian film of that year.^{[10][11][12] [13]}

In 2022, Lokesh directed Vikram, starring Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil. The film’s success, along with the establishment of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU), elevated his reputation in the industry, leading to another collaboration with Vijay on Leo (2023).^[14] It became one of the highest grossing Indian films by earning over ₹600 crore (US$71 million) worldwide^[15] and served as the third installment in the LCU franchise.

Lokesh Kanagaraj and Shruti Haasan come together for a musical project titled Inimel (2024).

In June 2023, Lokesh announced to conclude his directing career after completing 10 films.^[16] By November 2023, he launched his production company, G Squad, and unveiled his first production, Fight Club, directed by Vijay Kumar.^[17][18][19] Later that year, in December, Lokesh announced a short film within the LCU, titled Chapter Zero, as a prequel to Kaithi 2.^[20][21]

Following Leo, Lokesh announced Rajinikanth’s 171st film, produced by Sun Pictures, with music by Anirudh Ravichander.^[22] The official title Coolie was revealed in April 2024.^[23]

On 14 April 2024 coinciding with Puthandu, Lokesh announced his production venture, Benz, directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan and starring Raghava Lawrence in the lead. He has also written the story for the film.^[24] On 30 October 2024, Benz was confirmed to be a part of the LCU.^[25]

Lokesh's films are primarily in the neo-noir action genre always. He has likened himself to John Woo, who is also known mainly for directing such films. Despite this, Lokesh has expressed interest in exploring other genres such as fantasy and comedy. He has cited action films from the 1980s and 1990s as influences on his films, and has named Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino as some of his favourite directors due to their filmmaking styles. Rathna Kumar, who worked with Lokesh on Master, Vikram, and Leo, mentioned that his penchant for retro songs, violence, and hyperlink narratives in his films comes from his admiration for Tarantino.^{[26][5][27][28][29][30]} Though Lokesh's films are sometimes criticised for glorifying bloodshed and violence, he admitted that while he does try to romanticise violence, he has always had to tone down such sequences in his films to appeal to family audiences. To make his stunt sequences believable, Lokesh avoids using ropes, and believes this limitation makes the sequences look brutal and raw.^[31]

Lokesh married Aishwarya on 8 January 2012. They have two daughters.^[32]

Editor Philomin Raj and art director Sathees Kumar has worked on all films. The duo Anbariv have worked on five films. Anirudh has worked on four films. Rathna Kumar, Arjun Das, Arun Alexander and Dheena have worked on three films. Only people who have worked in three or more films are listed. This list only concerns Lokesh Kanagaraj's directorial films.

List of Lokesh Kanagaraj recurring collaborations

Film	Philomin Raj	Sathees Kumar	Anbariv	Arjun Das	Arun Alexander	Anirudh Ravichander	Dheena	Rathna Kumar
Maanagaram (2017)	Y	Y	Y		Y
Kaithi (2019)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y
Master (2021)	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Vikram (2022)	Y	Y	Y	Y Cameo		Y	Y Cameo	Y
Leo (2023)	Y	Y	Y			Y		Y
Coolie (2025)	Y	Y	Y			Y