S. Shankar

Shankar was born on 17 August 1963 in Kumbakonam, Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu to Muthulakshmi and Shanmugam. He completed his diploma in mechanical engineering from Central Polytechnic College and worked in a typewriting company before entering the film industry.^[5] He was roped into the film industry as a screenwriter by S. A. Chandrasekhar, who accidentally saw the drama stage shows made by Shankar and his team. Though Shankar wanted to be an actor, he chose to be a director instead.^[5][6]

Shankar was a wannabe actor who, after small and unnoticed roles in two films such Vesham (1985) and Poovum Puyalum (1986), eventually grabbed the opportunity to assist directors S. A. Chandrasekhar and Pavithran.^[6] He began his career as an actor in the films Vasantha Raagam (1986), Neethikku Thandanai (1987) and Seetha (1990).

In 1993, Shankar made his directional debut through Gentleman, starring Arjun Sarja in the lead role. The film was made with a higher-than-average budget in Tamil cinema during that time. It received a positive response and became a blockbuster.^[7] A. R. Rahman, the film's music composer, continued to work with Shankar in his next six directorial ventures.

Shankar's second film, Kaadhalan, a romantic thriller film, released the following year and featured Prabhu Deva in the lead role. In 1996, he collaborated with Kamal Haasan for Indian. It was dubbed in Hindi as Hindustani and Telugu as Bharateeyudu. The film was selected as the country's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Following Indian, Shankar began work on Jeans, which released in 1998 and became the most expensive film in Indian cinema at that time with a budget of ₹ 200 million. Upon release, it became one of the highest grossing Tamil films of the 1990s. He made his production debut through Mudhalvan (1999), where he collaborated with Arjun Sarja for the second time as lead actor. The film was a hit at the box office.

Shankar opted to remake Mudhalvan in Hindi as Nayak, thus making his Bollywood debut. Nayak released in September 2001 and was declared a flop by Box Office India due to its poor marketing, high budget, and distribution price. It went on to gain cult status from repeated telecasts despite not doing well at the box office.^[8][9][10] Shankar started work on his next film, which was supposed to be a science fiction film titled Robot that was slated to have Kamal Haasan in the lead. The project was stalled since Haasan was busy with other projects. Later, the project could not move forward due to budgeting problems.^[11]

Shankar's coming-of-age musical film Boys released in 2003. It received mixed reviews from the critics and audience, resulting in average business. However, A. R. Rahman's soundtrack for the film became a major sensation. On the box office front, the Telugu-dubbed version of Boys was a hit in Andhra Pradesh.^[12]

Shankar's psychological thriller Anniyan, featuring Vikram in three distinct characters (Ambi, Remo and Anniyan), was released in 2005. Shankar collaborated with composer Harris Jayaraj for the first time. Anniyan turned out to become the second-highest grossing Tamil film of 2005.

Shortly after the release of Anniyan, it was reported that Shankar had teamed up with Rajinikanth and AVM Productions for a film. He renewed his association with A. R. Rahman for the film. Sivaji was made at a budget of ₹ 600 million,^[2] the most expensive Indian film to that point. He was paid a record salary of ₹100 million for the film. After two years of filming, the film released in 2007 and ultimately became one of the highest grossing Tamil films of that time.

Following Sivaji, Shankar revisited the possibilities of opinion regarding the script of Robot. 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, was renamed Enthiran, and was made on a budget of ₹1.32 billion, which was again the most expensive Indian film to that point. Some reports also make it one of the highest grossing Tamil films of the time.^[13][14]

Shankar started to work on Nanban, the Tamil remake of the 2009 Hindi film 3 Idiots starring Vijay, Jiiva and Srikanth. The film opened in January 2012. After Nanban, it was wrongly reported that Shankar's next film would be called Therdal.^[15]

On 21 June 2012, Shankar announced his next film titled I.^[16] A romantic thriller, Vikram essayed the roles of a bodybuilder, fashion model, and hunchback. It was his second collaboration with Shankar after Anniyan. The film, made over a period of 2.5 years, released on 14 January 2015 to mixed-to-positive reviews and earned almost ₹2 billion in 19 days.^[17]

Shankar then started working on 2.0, a sequel to Enthiran, which released on 29 November 2018 and received positive to mixed reviews. It went on to become the highest-grossing Indian film of 2018 as well as the seventh highest-grossing Indian film of all time at release. To date, the film is still the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time.

Shankar then began work on Indian 2, the sequel to Indian, reuniting with Kamal Haasan. It was produced by Lyca Productions, marking the production company's second collaboration with Shankar after 2.0. However, due to Haasan contesting the 2019 Indian general election, an accident on the sets,^[18] and the COVID-19 pandemic, production was stalled.

In February 2021, Shankar announced his debut in Telugu cinema, Game Changer, starring Ram Charan and Kiara Advani; with the story written by Karthik Subbaraj.^[19] It was produced by Dil Raju under Sri Venkateswara Creations.

In April 2021, he also announced his return to Hindi cinema with Ranveer Singh, a remake of Anniyan. It was to be produced by Jayantilal Gada under Pen Studios.^[20] However, Shankar faced legal difficulties regarding rights to remake the film, and the production never commenced.^[21]

Production on Game Changer began, and after Haasan became available following the release of Vikram, Shankar stated that he will work on and direct both Game Changer and Indian 2 simultaneously.^[22] During filming of Indian 2, it was decided that the film would be split into two parts due to the length of the material. Both parts were simultaneously shot.^[23] Indian 2 was released on 12 July 2024. It was panned by critics and audiences alike,^[24] and was a box-office bomb.^[25] It also included a teaser for Indian 3, which was better received.^[26]

Game Changer was released on 10 January 2025, coinciding with Sankranti.^{[citation needed]} It opened to mixed reviews from critics and audience and emerged as Shankar's second consecutive box-office bomb.^[27][28]

Indian 3 was scheduled to be released on 24 January 2025, but is currently undergoing reshoots due to the panning of its predecessor.^[29]

Shankar is married to Easwari Shankar. The couple has two daughters and a son. Their younger daughter, Aditi Shankar, made her acting debut with Viruman (2022).^[1] In April 2024, Shankar's older daughter Aishwarya's second marriage was with Tarun Karthikeyan, after her divorce from cricketer Damodaran Rohit.^[30][31][32] Shankar's son Arjith Shankar is also an aspiring actor.^[33]

• Note: all films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.