Director Shankar is busy finishing the shoot of his upcoming Ai, which has Vikram and Amy Jackson in the lead. After filming in Chennai, China and Kodaikanal, we hear the director is waiting for permission to shoot at one of his favourite locations — the railway station!

A source in the know tells us that Shankar is planning to can an important sequence in a train for about 15 days, and is waiting for the officials to grant him permission. Even as the team gears up to shoot this sequence, we take a look at some of the memorable train sequences that have featured in Shankar’s films, right from Gentleman to Nanban.

Gentleman
Who can forget the peppy dance number, Chikku Bukku Chikku Bukku Rayilu, which had Prabhu Dheva and Gauthami matching steps to Rahman’s tunes? The number was shot prominently at a railway station, and also had the duo dancing inside a local train.

Jeans
One of the many romantic sequences in this Prashanth-Aishwarya Rai-starrer features the pair in a railway station. The sequence in which Ramu meets Vaishnavi for the first time at the station and is in awe of her ‘traditional look’ is still fresh in the memory of fans of the Ulaga Azhagi.

Anniyan
Shankar has laced both humour and action elements in this sequence. While Ambi’s antics with Chari and his attempts to profess his love to Nandhini inside the train makes you double with laughter, the latter half of the sequence involving the railway canteen is a prelude to the rise of Anniyan.

Sivaji
Rajinikanth might have had a ‘phata poster nikla hero’ moment in the film when he fights goons at a drive-in theatre. But the actor’s facial expressions when he stands in the middle of the railway tracks, waiting for the speeding train to ‘kill’ him, received a lot of applause from his fans.

Endhiran
One of the most remembered sequences in this sci-fi is the action scene involving Chitti in a train. As the goons try to misbehave with Sana, Chitti uses everything in the train — from seats to holders — to attack them. What’s more, he also roller skates on the tracks!

Nanban
After painting a truck for a song in Anniyan, Shankar chose a train for his Nanban. For the Aska Laska number, the director got his team to paint graffiti works on a train. The last sequence of the song, featuring Vijay and Ileana, was canned with this train in the backdrop.