What makes Shankar India's most celebrated director

Very few individuals make a mark in the world of art where their backgrounds or their initial ambitions seem to have no bearing with the heights they reach in their respective fields. Shankar Shanmugham wanted to be an actor and that too a comedian like Gowndamani and Senthil. He assisted SAC who is known to make low budget, family and political satires. He went on to direct ‘Gentleman’ and the rest is history. As a part of Shankar’s Birthday Special here we take a look at the unique traits of Shankar which make him stand in a league of his own among modern Indian filmmakers.

Socially relevant theme

The first thing that every Shankar film carries is a strong social cause and theme. In ‘Gentleman’ it is the importance of education to all, in ‘Indian’ and ‘Anniyan’ the social evil called bribery and in ‘Mudhalvan’ the need for a change of the very system. Even in his lighter movies ‘Kadhalan’ and ‘Jeans’ he touched the angst of a lower class youth and bonding between look alike twins.

Grandeur

The images that conjure up in the minds when the name Shankar is mentioned are the cost no bar grand spectacles that he creates to give the viewer a pleasurable wide eyed entertainment. All his songs transport the audience to a different world like a visit to the Seven Wonders of the World with Prashanth and Aishwarya Rai in ‘Poovukkul Olinthirukkum’ or to down under the virgin beauty of Australia with Kamal and Manisha Koirala in 'Telephone Manipol'.

Strong Writing Team

Shankar backs up his onscreen grandeur with extraordinary writing behind the screens. Sujatha has been an integral part of Shankar’s creations from ‘Indian’ to ‘Enthiran’. Other heavyweights include Balakumaran (‘Gentleman’), Madhan Karky (‘Enthiran’), Subha (‘I) and Jeymohan (‘2.0’).

Impeccable Casting

Shankar’s casting is so perfect that one cannot imagine any other actor in the particular role, be it Arjun in ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Mudhalvan’, Superstar Rajinikanth in ‘Enthiran’, Vikram in ‘Anniyan’ and ‘I’, Kamal Haasan in ‘Indian’ or Vijay in ‘Nanban’. Similarly, his heroines also have memorable roles and benefit greatly from his films like Manisha Koirala, Aishwarya Rai, Amy Jackson, Nagma and Sada to name a few.

Great importance to Songs and Music

Shankar’s movies always have not hit songs, but hit albums and one of his most memorable collaboration is with A.R. Rahman right from ‘Gentleman’ to the upcoming ‘2.0’. His combo with Harris Jayaraj too has reaped rich rewards in ‘Anniyan’ and ‘Nanban’. The audience are pre-sold to his films when the audio comes out.

Top Notch technicians

Shankar has worked with the country's premier cameramen including P.C. Sreeram, Jeeva, Ravi Varman, Manoj Paramahansa and others. Thotta Tharani, Sabu Cyril and T.Muthuraj among others have done production design for him. Lenin V.T Vijayan, Antony and Sreekar Prasad have been his editors and other chief technicians, including the Oscar winning sound engineer Resul Pookutty have been a part of his films.

Innovative CG Work

Shankar was the first director in Indian cinema to completely stun audiences with computer graphics when he first used them in the ‘Mukkala Muqabala’ song in ‘Kadhalan’ and after that he regularly enthralled and touched the peak with ‘Enthiran’ which is on par with any contemporary Hollywood film. The talk is that he has outrun himself in the upcoming ‘2.0’ which will be the first of its kind in Indian cinema with path breaking computer technology.

Audience Pulse

Shankar is first and foremost a great entertainer who knows the pulse of his audience the best. On one hand, he keeps them gaping with innovative fight and action sequences like the slush fight in ‘Mudhalvan’, the Varma Kalai in ‘Indian’, the long Kungfu fight in ‘Anniyan’ and almost all the action scenes of ‘Enthiran’. On the other hand, he keeps the audience in splits with the Gowndamani- Senthil shows in ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Indian’, Vadivelu in ‘Mudhalvan’, Vivek, in ‘Boys’ and ‘Anniyan’, Santhanam in ‘Enthiran’ and what is more he even spoofed himself in ‘I’ with Powerstar Srinivasan. He balances this with highly sentimental scenes like the Arjun-Vineeth friendship in 'Gentleman' or the family bonding in 'Indian'. Once again on behalf of millions of his fans we wish Shankar a Happy Birthday and many more entertaining years to come.

Very few individuals make a mark in the world of art where their backgrounds or their initial ambitions seem to have no bearing with the heights they reach in their respective fields...