Shankar Panikkar Biography

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

As a Star/Actor
Actor Shankar 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 Shankar 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 Mohan Lal is very popular with many Hits. Shankar's pairing with actresses Menaka and Ambika were considered as safe bets. During late 80's, 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.

As a Director
Shankar already completed his first directorial venture in Malayalam VIRUS, a film on AIDS, is awaiting Indian release, even though it had the US release. His first commercial Malayalam directorial venture Keralotsavam 2009 starring Kalabhavan Mani and Vinu Mohan is under progress and is expected to release in November 2009.

Current status
The latest Malayalam film Shankar appeared was the Children's film "ROBOT". He also completed another film "Rhythm". His last serial "Ammakkayi" aired in Surya TV was a success mainly due to his teaming with Menaka, his Hit pair of 80's. Director Rosshan Andrrews has signed Shankar to play an important role in his latest Mohan Lal starrer Casanova to be shot in foreign locations. He was in attendance during the Grand launch of Casanova, along with other prominent actors like Tamil actor Arya who is making his debut in Malayalam. After a long gap of more than 20 years, Shankar and Menaka, the most popular film pair of 80s, will once again play the prominent pair in Kalabhavan Mani 's upcoming Annarakkannanum Thannalayathu. To be directed by debutant Prakasan and produced by Abu Nabeer under the banner of Hajira Sultana Cine Vision, the film will start rolling from May in and around Thodupuzha.

Snippets
Shankar is instrumental in giving break to directors Priyadarshan and Bhadran. Director Sibi Malayil changed to serious family films with Shankar's home production Chekkeranoru Chilla. Shankar has an interesting list of films which is yet to get released even after the first copy is out as given below.

Kaattupoththu
Oru Mayilpeelithandum Kurae Valapottukalum
Panthyakkuthira - Tamil
The Suspense

The teaming of Mohanlal and Shankar is one of the most Guaranteed pair of Malayalam Films ever. None of their combination was Flop.

Shankar lives in Cochin with his wife and son.