Santosh Sivan (born 8 February 1964) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema.

Santosh, a founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers and the most awarded Director of Photography in India, graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and completed 45 feature films and 41 documentaries.

[5] As a director, Santosh won his first National Award 1988 for the Story of Tiblu (1988).

He was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to Indian cinema 2014.

In an interview, he said that some films he chose, not mostly because of the story but due to the very fact that he was comfortable with the director, a bigger pay check and out of friendship.