Shankar Shanmugam, credited as S. Shankar or his mononym Shankar, is an Indian filmmaker who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. He is one of the most prolific and highest paid film directors in India. His films typically deal with the contemporary social issues, vigilante themes and the usage of state of the art technology and VFX. He has won one National Film Award, four Filmfare Award South and six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards in his career.

Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood or K-Town, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, a widely spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a neighbourhood in Chennai, and Hollywood. The first Tamil silent film, Keechaka Vadham, was directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. The first Tamil talking feature film, Kalidas, a multilingual directed by H. M. Reddy was released on 31 October 1931, less than seven months after India's first talking motion picture Alam Ara.