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

Personal life

Shivan studied at Santhome Higher Secondary School, Mylapore, Chennai and then studied at Vanavani Matriculation Higher Secondary school, IIT MADRAS. Shivan and actress Nayanthara have been in a relationship ever since they worked together on ''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' in 2015. They announced their engagement in 2021, and got married on 9 June 2022 at Sheraton Grand in Mahabalipuram. The couple had twin boys on 26 September 2022 through a surrogate.

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). 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. 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. 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. 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.Vignesh Shivan along with Nayanthara, founded a new venture called Rowdy Pictures which produced the films ''Pebbles'' (2021) and ''Rocky'' (2021).

Other work

{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}{| class="wikitable sortable" class="wikitable"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"! Year! Song ! Artist(s)! Notes|-| 2012 || "The Love Anthem" || Silambarasan |||-| 2014 || "Chancey Illa" || rowspan="5" | Anirudh Ravichander || Single for Madras Day|-| 2015 || "Aakko" - Enakenna Yaarum Illaye || rowspan="4" | Single for Valentines Day|-| 2016 || "Avalukena"|-| 2017 || "Onnume Aagala"|-| 2018 || "Julie"|}