S. Shanker is a leading Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter working predominantly in the Tamil film industry on August 17, 1963, in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India. Shanker had a background in Mechanical Engineering, a skill that he put to work designing stage shows. After working as an assistant director, he made his debut as a director and writer in 1993 with ‘Gentleman’. The film, about a businessman who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, and music by A.R. Rahman, was a blockbuster. Shankar won a Filmfare Best Director Award and a Tamil Nadu State Award for Best Director. Shanker has directed thirteen other Tamil films, except for ‘Nayak’ (2001) a Hindi remake of ‘Mudhalvan’ (1999). Among the most successful are the romantic thriller ‘Kadhalan’ (1994), the vigilante action film with Kamal Haasan ‘Indian’ (1996), a romantic comedy with two sets of twins ‘Jeans’ (1998), an action thriller with Vikram who has multiple personality disorder ‘Anniyan’ (2005), Rajinikanth fighting corruption in ‘Sivaji: The Boss’ (2007), Rajinikanth a scientist who creates a too human-robot called Chitti in ‘Enthiran’ (2010), a remake of ‘3 Idiots’ starring Vijay ‘Nanban’ (2012), Vikram seeking vengeance when his good looks become deformed in ‘I’ (2015), and the second installment of ‘Enthiran’ with Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar in ‘2.0’ (2018). Shanker frequently works with A. R. Rahman and his films feature a fast-moving story, revenge, and social awareness. He is currently the highest-paid Indian director because of his big-budget movies and their collection records. Shanker fans are awaiting his next where he will reunite with Kamal Hassen for ‘Indian 2’.