biography of Director Shankar

– DOB: August 17, 1963

– Family:

Father – Shanmugham

Mother – Muthulakshmi

Wife and two daughters

– Place: Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu

– Lucky Number: 8

– Inspiration: ‘Mullum Malarum’ Film

– He was an aspiring Engineer and landed at Mechanical Department of a Polytechnic College and did Diploma there. Later joined a factory as a Quality Control Supervisor. His job carried no big tensions but was mostly an idle one. Movies always fascinated him. Though he had unrelenting passion for them he never thought of entering Movie Industry but as his Supervisor job was too monotonous he took risk and joined Theatre.

At first he aimed acting. He honed his skills at Theatre as a performer and writer. He then joined Director S.A.Chandrasekhar as Assistant Director. He worked for 17 films under Chandra Sekhar, including 5 Hindi films. Pavithran was also assisting S.A. Chandra Sekhar. Shankar later worked for two films of Pavithran. He was the Chief Assistant Director for Pavithran’s ‘Vasantha Kala Paravaigal’. He believed in giving his best to the work at hand.

For 7 years he was Assisting Directors. It was a long drawn probation before he could direct a film. Shankar assisted couple of KT Kunjuman’s films. Thats how he could get a chance to narrate ‘Gentleman’. This combination happened and the rest is history.

– With outstanding movies like

Gentleman

Premikudu (Kadhalan)

Bharateeyudu (Indian – Tamil, Hindustani – Hindi)

Jeans

Oke Okkadu (Mudhalavan – Tamil, Nayak – Hindi)

Boys

Aparichithudu (Anniyan – Tamil, Aparichit – Hindi)

Shivaji

Shankar climbed the Top Directors list.

– Some people opine that Shankar’s first film is ‘Kairaasikkaran’ (1984) which is about fake doctors. This does’t seem to be true as ‘Gentleman’ was released in 1993 and Shankar had worked as Assistant Director for only 7 years before directing ‘Gentleman’. He should have directed ‘Kairaasikkaran’ at the age of 21 !!!

The confusion has raised because of the coincidence of the Director’s name which says ‘S. Shankar’ for ‘Kairaasikkaran’.

– ‘Jeans’ was originally intended to be titled as ‘Genes’ but it was renamed to appeal to the masses. ‘Jeans’ was in Guinness Book of World Records for some time. The total runtime of Visual FX in this movie was more than Jurassic Park (1993) and thus was featured in Guinness Book of World Records.

– He says, ‘Story is the Pretty Woman, all the rest are cosmetics’.

- He was indeed a wanna be actor. He even acted in two films (Sita is one of them) which went unnoticed. He appears in ‘Balle Lakka’ Song in Sivaji with a fleeting step.

– While he was working in the factory, he was jailed once when the workers collectively protested against the Management. Shankar saw the real ambience of a Jail and the way prisoners were treated. This experience has helped him in conceiving jail scenes realistically in his films like Boys.

– His films comprise excellent, extravagant songs. He missed Rahman only for Anniyan as Rahman was too busy and so hired his protege Harris Jayaraj.

– He produced Mudhalvan under ‘S Films’ and all the rest under ‘S Pictures’ banner.

Under ‘S Pictures’ he has been producing short budget movies and bagging great hits.

- Mudhalavan

- Kaadhal (Premistey)

- Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi (Himsinche 23va Raju Pulikesi )

- Veyil

- Kallori (Kalasala)

- Arai Enn 305-il kadavu (Gadi No.302 lo Devudu)

- Irattai Suzhi

- Eeram

– S Music is his Audio Company.

– He speaks fluent Telugu. His note at the beginning of Premistey (Kadhal) was a big attraction for the movie.

– He has good association with Writer Sujatha. He never discusses his story ideas with many. That privilege is given only to the competent ones like Sujatha. He has recently passed away.

– Shankar takes utmost care in protecting the concept of his film. He administers strict rules upon his crew so that the would be sensation doesn’t get diluted.

Some of his Achievements:

- His social relevant themes have earned an Honorary Doctorate from MGR University, Tamilnadu.

- Two of his films, Indian and Jeans made it to the Oscars as India’s Official Entries for Academy’s Best Foreign Language Films.

- He produced Mudhalvan (S Films) and all the rest under S Pictures, Kaadhal, Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi, Veyil, Kalloori,305 gadilo Devudu

- Kaadhal made it to the London Film Festival.

- Veyil went to Cannes Film Festival and Shanghai Film Festival.

– Address:

S Pictures

# 2A, Empee Avenue,

Abusali Street,Saligramam,

Chennai – 600 093,

TamilNadu,

India.

– Some critics say that the concept of ‘Anniyan’ is inspired from Sidney Sheldon’s Novel ‘Tell Me Your Dreams’ which is the story about a gal with 3 personalities in her.

Interesting Observations:

- Whenever a TV Channel is featured in the film, it is called QTV.

- Director’s cut-outs being placed at theatres started with Shankar only.

- In ‘Gentleman’ Prabhu Deva was Asst. Choreographer and in Kadhalan he is the hero.

In Kadhalan, Vikram dubbed his voice for Prabhu Deva and in Anniyan he is the hero.

– In an Interview in 1996

Question:  Who’s your favourite director other than you?

Answer: The director of bribery-eradication department!