Sivakumar Ananth

Sivakumar Ananth
Other names	A. Shivakumar
Occupation	Director

Sivakumar Ananth is an Indian film director who has regularly collaborated as an assistant director to film maker Mani Ratnam. He made his directorial debut with Chukkallo Chandrudu (2006), and has also served in other professions in the film industry.

Sivakumar was born in Manamadurai, Tamil Nadu and did his schooling in the town, before enrolling at Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in Pilani in 1991 and graduating by 1995. He then travelled to the USA, and pursued a MS in Mass Communications with an ancillary in Film Theory at the University of Florida and graduated in 1997 after producing a thesis describing a comparative study of production technique in Hollywood and Indian Cinema. During his time at BITS, he took up script-writing and revealed his fascination with director Mani Ratnam's work in Roja had sparked an initial interest. After submitting his thesis, he contacted Mani Ratnam and secured a position as an assistant director after being asked to write a short story. The short story was also later published by journal, Ananda Vikatan.

He joined Mani Ratnam's team halfway through the shoot of Dil Se.. (1998), and his first day was spent working on the production of the song Chaiyya Chaiyya, and he was also assigned to help oversee the film's sound effects. His first film as an assistant director was Alaipayuthey (2000) and he worked alongside fellow apprentice Shaad Ali, in helping Madras Talkies complete the venture. In 2001, he began his first individual project as a director, Acham Thavir starring Madhavan and Jyothika, and produced by Vikram Singh. Sivakumar worked on the script alongside Selvaraj, with Ranjit Barot and Vinod signed as music composer and cinematographer, respectively. However Singh's financial problems meant that the film was called off 20 days into shoot, despite the team holding a schedule in Syria. Sivakumar subsequently reverted to assisting Mani Ratnam for Aaytha Ezhuthu and Yuva (2004), while also working on directing commercials.

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