Vignesh Shivan (born 18 September 1985) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, lyricist and actor who works in Tamil cinema.
Personal life
Vignesh's mother was a police inspector,[2] while his father was Superintendent of Police.[3] Vignesh and actress Nayanthara had been in a relationship ever since they worked together on Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in 2015.[4] They announced their engagement in 2021,[5] and got married on 9 June 2022 at Sheraton Grand in Mahabalipuram.[6] The couple had twin boys on 26 September 2022 through surrogacy.[7]Netflix has documented his wife's journey in cinema, as well as her relationship with him, in a documentary titled Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale (2024).[8]
Career
Vignesh began his career as an assistant director under Prabhu Solomon.[9] After getting Dharan to compose music for it, showed the film to producers, Gemini Film Circuit, and then to Silambarasan and both parties agreed to collaborate to make it a feature film titled Podaa Podi (2012).[10] The joint producers of the film, Shanaya Telefilms, released a series of posters in June 2008 publicising the film, while Silambarasan and Vignesh toured in Canada scouting for locations and agreeing a deal with Mayor Ron Stevens to film in Orillia and Toronto.[11][12] The film languished in production for close to four years, before finally releasing in October 2012 to mixed reviews. He then continued to be active in films by working as a lyricist, filming independent music videos and appeared in a cameo role in Velaiyilla Pattathari (2014), starring Dhanush. His second film, Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, released three years after his directorial debut, became his first major breakthrough as a director.[9] In his third venture, Thaanaa Serndha Koottam, he teamed up with Suriya and Keerthy Suresh. Anirudh Ravichander wrote the music numbers.[13] Vignesh Shivan along with Nayanthara, founded a new venture called Rowdy Pictures which produced the films Pebbles (2021) and Rocky (2021).[citation needed]