Nirav Shah is an acclaimed Indian cinematographer. He has worked on a number of major box office hits in Hindi and Tamil since his debut with the 2004 Hindi film Paisa Vasool. It was, however, the Hindi blockbuster film Dhoom (2004) that made people take notice of Shah, winning him accolades and gaining him fame and popularity. Subsequently Shah got offers from the Tamil film industry as well and moved southwards, debuting in Kollywood with the 2005 Linguswamy-directed action film Sandakozhi, following which he was called up by director Vishnuvardhan. In July 2009, it was announced that Shah would soon turn film director, directing a film under actor Arya's production, starring Arya's brother Sathya in the lead role. Three of his films have been nominated at the National Award for the Best Cinematographer: Banaras (Hindi), Pattiyal (Tamil) and Dhoom 2 (Hindi). He won the Tamil Nadu Government's State Award for Best Cinematographer for Billa (Tamil).