Vignesh Shivan

Vignesh Shivan (born 18 September 1985) is an Indian film director, film producer, screenwriter, actor and lyricist who works in Tamil cinema, making films of various genres.

Vignesh Shivan
Vignesh Shivan in 2019
Born	(1985-09-18) 18 September 1985 (age 39)[1]
Nationality	Indian
Occupations	Film director film producer screenwriter lyricist actor
Years active	2012–present
Spouse	Nayanthara ​ (m. 2022)​
Children	2

Personal life

Shivan studied at Santhome Higher Secondary School, Mylapore, Chennai and then studied at Vanavani Matriculation Higher Secondary School. Shivan and actress Nayanthara have been in a relationship ever since they worked together on Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in 2015.^[2] They announced their engagement in 2021,^[3] and got married on 9 June 2022 at Sheraton Grand in Mahabalipuram.^[4][5] The couple had twin boys on 26 September 2022 through surrogacy.^[6][7][8] 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).^[9]

Career

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 as an engineer in Velaiyilla Pattathari (2014) along with Dhanush.

His second film, Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (2015), went through several changes of cast and production studios, before finalising on Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara as lead actors and Dhanush as producer.

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).

His Recent Movie is "LIK" will be releasing on 2025.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

As director, writer and actor

Year	Film	Credited as				Notes	Ref.
		Director	Writer	Actor	Role
2007	Sivi	N	N	Y	Krishna's friend	Uncredited Appearance
2012	Podaa Podi	Y	Y	Y	Himself	Cameo appearance
2014	Velaiilla Pattadhari	N	N	Y	Vignesh	One of the engineer in his team
2015	Naanum Rowdy Dhaan	Y	Y	N		Won - SIIMA Award for Best Director	[14][15]
2018	Thaanaa Serndha Koottam	Y	Y	N		Remake of Hindi film Special 26
2020	Paava Kadhaigal	Y	Y	N		Anthology film; segment Love Panna Uttarnum	[16]
2022	Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal	Y	Y	N
2025	Love Insurance Kompany †	Y	Y	N		Post-production	[17][18]

As producer

• Netrikann (2021)^[19][20]
• Koozhangal (2021)
• Rocky (2021)
• Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal (2022)
• Connect (2022)
• Shubh Yatra (2023)^[21]

As distributor

• Rocky (2021)

As lyricist

Year	Song	Film	Composer	Notes
2012	"Hare Rama Hare Krishna"	Podaa Podi	Dharan Kumar
	"Maattikittenae"
	"Un Paarvaiyilae"
2013	"Engadi Poranthae"	Vanakkam Chennai	Anirudh Ravichander
	"En Life In Angel"	Virattu	Dharan Kumar
2014	"Chancey Illa"		Anirudh Ravichander	Single For Madras Day
2015	"Adharru Adharru"	Yennai Arindhaal	Harris Jayaraj
	"Enakenna Yaarum Illaye"	Aakko	Anirudh Ravichander	Single for Valentines Day
	"Thappa Dhaan Theriyum"	Maari
	"Thangamey"	Naanum Rowdydhaan
	"Yennai Maatrum Kadhale"
	"Kannaana Kanne"
	"Varava Varava"
2016	Avalukena	Avalukena (Independent Album)	Anirudh Ravichander	Single for Valentines Day
	"Senjitaley"	Remo
	"Remo Nee Kadhalan"
	"Sirikkadhey"
	"Tamilselvi"
	"Showkali"	Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada	A R Rahman
	"Solli Tholaiyen Ma"	Yaakkai	Yuvan Shankar Raja
2017	"Onnume Aagale"	Onnume Aagale (Independent Album)	Anirudh Ravichander	Single for Valentines Day
	"Karuppu Vellai"	Vikram Vedha	Sam CS
	"Unakkaga"	Sakka Podu Podu Raja	Silambarasan
2018	"Naana Thaanaa"	Thaanaa Serndha Koottam	Anirudh Ravichander
	"Sodakku"			Written along with Mani Amudhavan
	"Peela Peela"
	"Thaanaa Serndha Koottam"
	"Orey oru"	Kolamavu Kokila
	"Gun-in-kadhal"
	"Thittam poda Teriyalayae"
	"Angry Bird"	Irumbu Thirai	Yuvan Shankar Raja
2019	"Thimiru Kaatadha Di"	LKG	Leon James
	"Marakkavillayae"	Jersey	Anirudh Ravichander	Tamil Version
	"Bad Boy"	Saaho	Badshah	Tamil version
	"Thimiranumda"	NGK	Yuvan Shankar Raja
	"Yenga Annan"	Namma Veetu Pillai	D. Imman
2020	"Ennai Vittu"	Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal	Masala Coffee
	"Unnale Penne"	Dharala Prabhu	Inno Genga
	"Dharala Prabhu"		Anirudh Ravichander	Composed along with Sean Roldan, Vivek-Mervin, Inno Genga, Madley Blues , Bharath Shankar, Kaber Vasuki and Oorka.
2021	"Top Tucker"	Top Tucker (Independent Album)	Yuvan Shankar Raja	Written along with Badshah
	"Andha Kanna Paathaakka"	Master	Anirudh Ravichander
	"Quit Pannuda"
2022	"Naanga Vera Maari"	Valimai	Yuvan Shankar Raja
	"Mother Song (Version 1)"
	"Mother Song (Version 2)"
	"Rendu Kaadhal"	Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal	Anirudh Ravichander
	"Two Two Two"
	"Naan Pizhai"
	"Dippam Dappam"
	"Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal"
	"Vaada Thambi"	Etharkkum Thunindhavan	D. Imman
	"Bae"	Don	Anirudh Ravichander
2023	"Rathamaarey"	Jailer	Anirudh Ravichander	SIIMA Award for Best Lyricist
2024	"Kulukku Kulukku"	Inga Naan Thaan Kingu	D. Imman	[22]
	"Paththavaikkum"	Devara: Part 1	Anirudh Ravichander	Dubbed version
	"Dheema"	Love Insurance Kompany	Anirudh Ravichander
2025	"Nesippaya Nee Ennai"	Nesippaya	Yuvan Shankar Raja

Other work

Music videos

Year	Song	Artist(s)	Notes
2012	"The Love Anthem"	Silambarasan
2014	"Chancey Illa"	Anirudh Ravichander	Single for Madras Day
2015	"Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye		Single for Valentines Day
2016	"Avalukena"
2017	"Onnume Aagala"
2018	"Julie"