Shankar Dayal (1969 or 1970 – 19 December 2024) was an Indian film director. He made his directorial debut with Saguni (2012). He was widely appreciated for his spontaneous out-of-the-box thinking paradigm shift approach in showcasing societal themes and the plight of the political landscape.^[1]

Shankar began his career as a dialogue writer to films. He wrote dialogues for Arjun Sarja starrer Parasuram (2003) and for Jayam Ravi starrer Deepavali (2007).^[2]

He had a breakthrough in his film career through his maiden directorial venture Saguni, where he cast Karthi in the main lead role alongside comedian Santhanam in the supporting role.^[3] His first tryst with feature film direction, Saguni, became a profitable venture at the box office, and the onscreen chemistry between Karthi and Santhanam in the film was elevated with the right blend of humor and characterization.^[4] Saguni focused more on the importance of corruption, mafia and political blame game despite the film's genre being an out-and-out political satire.^[5]

His second directorial venture titled Kuzhanthaigal Munnetra Kazhagam created a buzz in the social circles and the film fraternity as prominent comedians Senthil and Yogi Babu were roped into the important roles for the film;^[6] hence the duo were regarded as the fulcrums of the film, considering the speculations about the scope of the film content to be oriented and tilted mostly on the humor trajectory.^[1][7]

Dayal died on 19 December 2024, at the age of 54, after suffering a heart attack.^[2][8]