Shanker

Shanker is considered as one of the superstars of Malayalam cinema in 1980s.

Actor Shanker had a dream opening with the Vijaya T. Rajendar 's Tamil Mega Hit " Oru Thalai Ragam " which completed 365 days in theatres. Luck favoured him in Malayalam Films too with Fazil's directorial venture Manjil Virinja Pookkal, where Mohanlal debuted as villain became a Musical Hit. Overnight Shanker became a hot property in both Tamil and Malayalam film Industry and almost all his films doing good business. He was the Second Super Star of Malayalam Films of 80s after Late Action Star "Jayan". He never experimented with his roles, still he had a very large fan base in Kerala. Many of his ordinary films were hits just because of his presence. His teaming with Mohanlal is very popular with many Hits. Shanker's pairing with actresses Menaka and Ambika were considered as safe bets. During late 80s, he cut down his film assignments and shifted to USA for personal and business reasons. However, most of his come back ventures failed to ignite the Box office.

Shanker did his first directorial venture in Malayalam VIRUS, a film on AIDS. His first commercial Malayalam directorial venture was Keralotsavam (2009) starring Kalabhavan Mani and Vinu Mohan.

Shanker is instrumental in giving break to directors Priyadarshan and Bhadran. Director Sibi Malayil changed to serious family films with Shanker's home production Chekkeranoru Chilla. The teaming of Mohanlal and Shanker is one of the most Guaranteed pair of Malayalam Films ever. None of their combination was flop.

Shanker lives in Cochin with his wife and son.

Prepared by: Dr. Susie Pazhavarical