Rajinikanth & Shankar Movies Together List — 7 Films

The shape of the work

The 1970s belonged to Thai Meethu Sathiyam; the 2010s to Robot. Shankar original music composer in some, director in others.

Partnership facts

• Shankar first approached Rajinikanth for 'Sivaji' in 2005, but the actor was hesitant about the political theme. Shankar rewrote the entire script to center it on Rajinikanth's star persona — and the actor said yes only after that rewrite.
• On the sets of 'Enthiran' (2010), Shankar would storyboard every single shot in advance — but Rajinikanth would often improvise dialogue in Tamil that wasn't in the script. Shankar loved it so much he started leaving blank spaces in the screenplay for Rajini to fill.
• The success of 'Sivaji' (2007) directly led to the creation of Lyca Productions — the studio that later produced '2.0' (2018). Lyca's founder Subaskaran Allirajah was so blown away by the film's box office that he decided to enter film production.
• During the making of '2.0', Rajinikanth was recovering from a kidney transplant. Shankar personally drove him to and from the hospital for checkups, and rescheduled the entire shoot around the actor's dialysis sessions — without telling the press.
• Shankar once said: 'Rajini sir doesn't act. He becomes the character. On the set of 'Sivaji', I would forget I'm directing a superstar — I was just watching a man live the role.'
• For the climax of 'Enthiran', Shankar wanted a 10-minute single-take fight sequence. Rajinikanth insisted on doing it without a body double — and they shot it over 14 days. The final cut used only one hidden edit.