Lokesh Kanagaraj (born 14 March 1986) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in

Tamil films Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

. He started his careers with a short film in the 2016 anthology '' Aviyal.'' He later directed his first feature film ''

Maanagaram ''Maanagaram'' () is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language hyperlink action thriller film that was written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, and produced by S. R. Prabhu. The film stars Sri, Sundeep Kishan, and Regina Cassandra, and its soundtrack ...

'' (2017). He created the

Lokesh Cinematic Universe Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU) is an Indian shared universe of action thriller films created by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The first feature of the universe ''Kaithi'' was released in 2019 and the second installment ''Vikram'' was released on 3 June ...

franchise with his films ''Kaithi'' (2019) and ''Vikram'' (2022). His upcoming film, ''Leo'', is also intended to be a part of the universe. Leo marked the second collaboration between Vijay and Lokesh after ''Master'' (2021).

Early life

Lokesh Kanagaraj was born in

Kinathukadavu Kinathukadavu (also spelt as Kinathukkadavu), meaning ''Pass of the Well'', is a town panchayat suburb of Coimbatore city and taluk in Coimbatore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is along the National Highway 209 and is from G ...

Coimbatore district Coimbatore district is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Coimbatore is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is one of the most industrialized districts and a major textile, industrial, commercial, educ ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India. In

PSG College of Arts and Science PSG College of Arts and Science (PSG CAS) is a College of Arts and Sciences in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1947 by G. R. Damodaran. History PSG College of Arts and Science was started in 1947 by the PSG and Sons Cha ...

, he majored in Fashion Technology before pursuing an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

. He did his schooling in Palanayiammal Matric Hr. Sec. School Kalliyapuram, Pollachi. He is an ex-bank employee. He pursued his passion towards film making by participating in a corporate short film competition. The judge of the competition was

Karthik Subbaraj Karthik Subbaraj is an Indian film director, writer and producer working mainly in Tamil cinema. Life and career Karthik did his schooling in SBOA Matriculation and Higher Secondary School, Madurai after which he went on to study Mechatron ...

. Impressed with his short film, he encouraged Lokesh to pursue a directorial career making films.

Career

In 2016, his

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, ''Kalam'', was included in the

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

, '' Aviyal'', produced by Karthick Subbaraj. In 2017, he made his directorial feature debut with the hyperlink film, ''

''. In late 2018, he began working on a film for

Dream Warrior Pictures Dream Warrior Pictures is an Indian film production company based in Chennai. It was founded in 2010 by brothers S R Prakashbabu and S R Prabhu, who were partners in Studio Green during 2010–2013. They are also relatives of the veteran acto ...

, the same production company behind ''

''. With

Karthi Karthik Sivakumar (born 25 May 1977), better known by his stage name Karthi, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. He has won three Filmfare Awards South, an Edison Award, a SIIMA Award and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award. ...

in the lead role, the action-thriller was titled ''

Kaithi Kaithi (), also called Kayathi () or Kayasthi (), is a historical Brahmic script that was used widely in parts of Northern and Eastern India, primarily in the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. In particular, it was us ...

''. His next after ''

'' was the action-drama film, ''

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

'', starring Vijay and

Vijay Sethupathi Vijaya Gurunatha Sethupathi (born 16 January 1978), known professionally as Vijay Sethupathi, is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Tamil films. He is a recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award. Fo ...

. It was released on 13 January 2021, a day before the Pongal festival. It opened to mostly positive reviews and emerged as a commercial success. ''Master'' was the second highest grossing Tamil film of 2021. He then directed '' Vikram'' (2022), starring

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

, and

Fahadh Faasil Fahadh Fazil (8 August 1982) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has appeared in few Tamil and Telugu films. He has acted in more than 50 films and has received several awards, including a Nati ...

. Following the huge success of the film, he is actively creating the

, on the basis of carrying the story forward from ''Kaithi'' and ''Vikram''. His next directorial after ''Vikram'' will be Vijay's 67th film, '' Leo''.

Filmography

Accolades

References

External Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanagaraj, Lokesh Living people Tamil film directors Tamil screenwriters 21st-century Indian film directors 1986 births