Lokesh Kanagaraj

Lokesh Kanagaraj is an Indian film director who primarily works in Tamil cinema He began his career in cinema by directing one of the four segments in the anthology film Aviyal 2016 Over time Lokesh has carved a niche for himself in Indian cinema through a string of extremely successful action and crime thrillers including Maanagaram 2017 Kaithi 2019 Master 2021 Vikram 2022 and Leo 2023 Lokeshs films are oriented around the hyperlink crime cinema subgenre where most of the story takes place during nighttime with Lokesh citing Quentin Tarantino as a major inspiration for his style of filmmaking His films are known for depicting the dark underbelly of metropolitan cities through multiple grey characters with the nexus between the police force and organized crime syndicates being a key feature Lokesh is also credited with the creation of LCU Lokesh Cinematic Universe where his films Kaithi 2019 Vikram 2022 and Leo 2023 share interrelated subplots themes and characters