Lokesh Kanagaraj is an Indian film director who works primarily in the Tamil film industry who started his film career with the 2016 anthology film called Aviyal. He is best known for writing and directing the action-thriller films Maanagaram (2017), Kaithi (2019), Master (2021) and Vikram (2022). Kanagaraj's films have been described as being oriented around the hyperlink crime cinema subgenre, with his work earning him comparisons to Quentin Tarantino. His films are known for depicting the dark underbelly of metropolitan cities through various characters, with the nexus between the police force and organized crime syndicates being a key feature of his work. Kaithi (2019), Vikram (2022), and Leo (2023) take place in the same cinematic universe, dubbed the LCU (Lokesh Cinematic Universe), and share interrelated subplots, themes and characters.