Feature film
Three released features across romance, thriller and sports drama, and a fourth — Texla — shooting through 2026 as a multilingual release.
Official Website· Chennai, India
AishwaryaRajinikanth
Film Director / Playback Singer
An Indian filmmaker working in Tamil cinema — three feature films, a documentary about the industry’s unnamed stunt artistes, and a fourth feature now in production.
02The Filmmaker
A storyteller who learned
the set before the chair.
Aishwarya Rajinikanth was born in Madras — now Chennai — on 1 January 1982, into a household where cinema was the daily weather and music the constant background. Her father is the actor Rajinikanth; her mother, Latha Rangachari, is a singer. Proximity, however, is not the same as apprenticeship, and her route into filmmaking was built the ordinary way: on set, in the crowd behind the monitor.
Her first credited work in cinema came as a playback singer in 2003. Seven years later she joined Selvaraghavan’s Aayirathil Oruvan (2010) as an assistant director, also recording a song for its soundtrack and dubbing for one of its actors. In 2012 she directed her own first feature.
03Cinema
Five titles.
One continuing question.
From a debut about a marriage undone by an untreated illness, to a documentary about the stunt artistes nobody credits, to a village cricket match that turns into a test of communal faith — the films keep asking who is left out of the frame.
- 20123 — Tamil feature. Directorial debut. Music by Anirudh Ravichander.
- 2015Vai Raja Vai — Tamil crime thriller. Music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
- 2017Cinema Veeran — Documentary on the stunt artistes of Tamil cinema.
- 2024Lal Salaam — Tamil sports drama. Music by A. R. Rahman.
- 2026Texla — Multilingual feature, in production. Music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
04Music
Before the camera,
the voice.
Her first screen credit was not a directing credit. It was a song.
- 2003“Natpae Natpae”
from Whistle · composed by D. Imman - 2010“Un Mela Aasadhan”
from Aayirathil Oruvan · composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar
05Career Timeline
Two decades, marked in five moments.
- 2003First playback recording, Whistle.
- 2010Assistant director on Aayirathil Oruvan.
- 2012Directorial debut with 3.
- 2016Appointed UN Women’s Advocate for Gender Equality in India; memoir published.
- 2024Lal Salaam released — her father’s first film under her direction.
06Creative Journey
More than one way to tell it.
Non-fiction
Cinema Veeran (2017), a 51-minute record of the stunt artistes of Tamil cinema, narrated by Rajinikanth.
Playback & dubbing
Two recorded playback songs, and a dubbing credit on Aayirathil Oruvan.
Memoir
Standing on an Apple Box: The Story of a Girl Among the Stars, published by HarperCollins India in December 2016.
Bharatanatyam
Trained under Meenakshi Chitharanjan. Performed at the United Nations headquarters on International Women’s Day, March 2017.
UN Women
Appointed in August 2016 as UN Women’s Advocate for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in India.
07Recognition
Recognition
03Feature films directed
01Documentary directed
02Playback recordings
01Memoir published
Recognised with the Kalaimamani honour by the Government of Tamil Nadu, and nominated at the Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer.
08The Archive
A photographic record.
Portraits, sets, festivals, stages and unguarded moments — presented at full frame, uncropped, in the gallery.
09Media
Selected coverage and public appearances.
-
June 2026
IANS
“Aishwarya Rajinikanth’s ‘Texla’ shooting begins”
Filming commences on the multilingual feature led by Jai and Suraj Venjaramoodu.
-
Nov 2023
Malay Mail
Rajinikanth to appear in Lal Salaam, directed by his daughter
The cricket-set drama marked the first time the actor worked under her direction.
-
2016
Gulf News
Appointed UN Women’s Advocate for Gender Equality
Named an advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment in India.
Closing Frame
“The people who make a film are rarely the people you see in it.”
A working principle that runs from Cinema Veeran to Lal Salaam — and into what comes next.
→Enquiries
Let’s begin
a conversation.
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