Shanker Panicker is an Indian actor, film director and producer who has worked in Malayalam and Tamil films. He has acted in nearly 200 films and was a leading actor in Malayalam cinema during the 1980s and was also a lead youth hero in Tamil cinema at that time. Shankar's debut Tamil film Oru Thalai Ragam, and Malayalam debut, Manjil Virinja Pookkal, completed a theatrical run of 365 and 250 days respectively. He is often referred as the Romantic hero of Malayalam films.