Shankar receives an honorary doctorate from Vels University

On August 5, Vels University conferred an honorary doctorate upon director Shankar. At the college’s 12th Annual Convocation, the director was presented with an honorary doctorate in front of Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. Last night, the university also honored Indian star, Suresh Raina.

After obtaining his Ph.D., filmmaker Shankar reportedly told the media in a statement that he felt very encouraged by the honor and that he was eager to use it to further cinematic technology. He continued by expressing his excitement and stating how much the doctorate has inspired him.

According to a press statement from Vels University, “The film industry has seen plenty of talented people from various fields. People have attained the height of success and become legends in the field of cinema. It is one such talent that we are going to honor today. Born to a middle-class family in Kumbakonam, Shankar did Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Central Polytechnic College. In his college days, he started writing and performing in cultural events. Later on, he was recognized by the audience and received many awards too. This sparked his interest in acting. Then, he joined an amateur theatre troupe where he performed for five years. One such performance caught the attention of director S A Chandrasekhar, who invited him to become an assistant director in the year 1986. After seven years of experience, Shankar made his directorial debut with the movie, ‘Gentleman’, which was released in 1993.”

“The years that followed saw the making of ‘Kadhalan’, ‘Indian’, ‘Jeans’, ‘Mudhalvan’, ‘Sivaji’, ‘Enthiran’… a total of 13 movies in 25 years. The director got to work with an array of actors, including Superstar Rajnikanth, Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan, and Thalapathy Vijay. Several films of his have won the Filmfare Awards, the State Awards, and even the National Awards. Now, we are happy to honor our highly talented filmmaker, Shankar with a doctorate from Vels University,”

The director is now filming for the movie “RC 15” and will shortly start production on his next movie, “Indian 2,” which stars Kamal Haasan and is a sequel to the 1996 movie “Indian.”