Palaniyaandi Neelakantan (2 October 1916 – 3 September 1992) was a Tamil film director, who was active for nearly four decades.

His play Naam Iruvar was brought by movie mogul Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar and made into a film in 1947.

His directorial debut was with Oru Iravu in (1951), the dialogue for which was written by C. N. Annadurai.

Two films that made him well-known are ALS productions Ambikapadi (1957) and Thirudadhe (1961).

Between Chakravarthi Thirumagal in 1957 and Needhikku Thalaivanangu in 1976, Neelakantan directed altogether 17 of MGR's movies.