Ace filmmaker Shankar will receive an honourary Doctorate from Vels University and the official announcement about it was made this morning. Vels University made this news official through a statement that read, "The film industry which 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 honour today. Born to a middle-class family in Kumbakonam, he did Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in Central Polytechnic College. In his college days, he started writing and performing in cultural events.

Later on, he was recognised by the audience and received many awards also. 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 as an assistant director in the year 1986. After 7 years of experience, he had directed the movie called Gentleman which was released in 1993. He is none other than the legend Director Shankar. The years that followed saw the making of Kadhalan, Indian, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Sivaji, Enthiran… totally 13 movies in 25 years.

All these are the most commercially successful movies with the topmost stars of the industry – like Superstar Rajnikanth, Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Haasan, Thalapathy Vijay… His films have won the Filmfare Awards, the State Awards and even the national Awards. Despite of his huge success, Shankar, the father of 3 children, always had his feet firmly on the ground. Now, we are happy to honour our highly talented filmmaker, Shankar with a doctorate from Vels University".

Director Shankar is currently busy working on his next film, RC 15 that stars Ram Charan and Kiara Advani in the lead roles. Produced by Dil Raju's Sri Venkateswara Creations, the film is being made as a Tamil - Telugu bilingual.