Shankar Shanmugam (born 17 August 1963) is an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter, primarily known for his work in Tamil cinema.

Shankar's films are known for addressing contemporary social issues, vigilante themes, and incorporating state-of-the-art technology and visual effects (VFX) with magnificence.

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 an 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.

[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.

In 1993, Shankar made his directional debut through Gentleman, starring Arjun Sarja in the lead role.

He made his production debut through Mudhalvan (1999), where he collaborated with Arjun Sarja for the second time as lead actor.

Nayak released in September 2001 and was declared a flop by Box Office India due to its poor marketing, high budget, and distribution price.

Shortly after the release of Anniyan, it was reported that Shankar had teamed up with Rajinikanth and AVM Productions for a film.

[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, 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 highly mixed reviews.

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.

[27] It opened to lukewarm reviews from critics and audience and emerged as Shankar's second consecutive box-office bomb.

[1] In April 2024, Shankar's older daughter Aishwarya's second marriage was with Tarun Karthikeyan, after her divorce from cricketer Damodaran Rohit.