Soundarya Rajinikanth (born Shaku Bai Rao Gaikwad; 20 September 1984) is an Indian

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

and director who primarily works in the

Tamil film industry 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 ''Kollyw ...

. She is the founder and owner of Ocher Picture Productions. Soundarya began her career in films as a graphic designer. For those starring her father

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

, she designed the title sequences. She became a film producer with '' Goa'' (2010). She made her debut as a director with the film ''

Kochadaiyaan ''Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language 3D Animation, 3D animated action film written by K. S. Ravikumar and directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth. It is India's first photorealism, photorealistic motion ca ...

'' (2014).

Career

Soundarya Rajinikanth, born as Shaku Bai Rao Gaikwad did her childhood education in the Ashram Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Velachery, Chennai. In 2007, Ocher Studios signed an agreement with Warner Bros Entertainment to partner up in producing and distributing Tamil films. Her directorial debut was supposed to be ''Sultan: The Warrior'', a

3D animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refer ...

film featuring her father

. Despite heavy pre-production promotion, including a teaser of the film and an interactive website, the film was dropped. She instead directed ''

Kochadaiiyaan ''Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language 3D animated action film written by K. S. Ravikumar and directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth. It is India's first photorealistic motion capture film, featuring characters whose de ...

'', India's first

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

film, with Rajinikanth in the lead role. Through ''Kochadaiiyaan'', Soundarya earned the distinction of becoming the first woman to direct her father in a feature film. At the NDTV Indian of the Year awards 2014, she was honoured for "Technical Innovation In Film". In 2016, she worked on the pre-production of a film titled ''Nilavukku Enmel Ennadi Kobam'' with

Dhanush Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja (born 28 July 1983), known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, producer, director, lyricist and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Starring in 46 films over his career, among hi ...

Kajal Aggarwal Kajal Aggarwal (born 19 June 1985) is an Indian actress and model who mainly appears in Telugu and Tamil language films, in addition to a few Hindi films. Aggarwal has worked in more than 50 films and also received two South Indian Internatio ...

and Manjima Mohan, but the film was later dropped. Her next directorial venture was ''

Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 ''Velaiilla Pattadhari 2'' () is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Soundarya Rajnikanth. It is a sequel to the 2014 film '' Velaiilla Pattadhari'' and has Dhanush, Amala Paul, Vivek, Hrishikesh, Saranya Ponvannan, ...

'', shot in Tamil and Telugu languages. In 2019, She started a production company called May 6 Entertainment. She founded Hoote, a social media platform that is based on voice messages.

Personal life

Soundarya is the younger daughter of actor

and his wife Latha. She has one elder sister, Aishwarya Rajinikanth. Soundarya married Ashwin Ramkumar, an industrialist, on 3 September 2010 at Rani Meyyammai Hall in Chennai. The couple has a son born on 6 May 2015. In September 2016, Soundarya revealed that she and her husband had filed for divorce by mutual consent due to irreconcilable differences. In July 2017, the couple officially divorced. She married Vishagan Vanangamudi, an actor and businessman, on 11 February 2019 at Leela Palace in Chennai. Their son "Veer" was born in 2022.

Filmography

Web series

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajinikanth, Soundarya Living people Indian women film producers Tamil film producers Film directors from Chennai Indian women film directors Tamil film directors 1984 births Indian women designers 21st-century Indian designers Pseudonymous artists Film producers from Chennai 21st-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian women artists Women artists from Tamil Nadu Businesswomen from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian businesswomen 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesswomen 21st-century Indian businesspeople