Soundarya Rajinikanth

Soundarya Rajinikanth, born as Shaku Bai Rao Gaikwad^[1] did her childhood education in the Ashram Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Velachery, Chennai.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Soundarya founded the visual effects studio Ocher Studios, and their first project was Chandramukhi the same year.^[2][3] In 2008, Ocher Studios signed an agreement with Warner Bros Entertainment to partner up in producing and distributing Tamil films.^[2] Her debut as producer was Goa (2010).^[4] Soundarya's directorial debut was supposed to be Sultan: The Warrior, a 3D animated film featuring the voice of her father Rajinikanth. Despite heavy pre-production, including a teaser being released,^[5] the film was dropped.^[6] She instead directed the motion capture film Kochadaiiyaan, also starring Rajinikanth.^[7] Through Kochadaiiyaan, Soundarya earned the distinction of becoming the first woman to direct her father in a feature film.^[8] At the NDTV Indian of the Year awards 2014, she was honoured for "Technical Innovation In Film".^[9]

In 2016, Soundarya worked on the pre-production of a film titled Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam with Dhanush, Kajal Aggarwal and Manjima Mohan, but the film was later dropped.^[10] It was revived in 2023 without Soundarya's involvement.^[11] Her next directorial venture was Velaiilla Pattadhari 2.^[12][13]

In 2018 Soundarya started a production company called May6 Entertainment.^[14] In 2021, she founded Hoote, a social media platform that is based on voice messages.^[15]

Soundarya is the younger daughter of actor Rajinikanth and his wife Latha. She has one elder sister, Aishwarya Rajinikanth.

Soundarya married Ashwin Ramkumar, an industrialist, on 3 September 2010 at Rani Meyyammai Hall in Chennai.^[16] The couple has a son born on 6 May 2015.^[17] In September 2016, Soundarya revealed that she and her husband had filed for divorce by mutual consent due to irreconcilable differences.^[18] In July 2017, the couple officially divorced.^[19]

Soundarya married Vishagan Vanangamudi, an actor and businessman, on 11 February 2019 at Leela Palace in Chennai.^{[20][21][22][23][24]} Their son was born in 2022.^[25]