I can give tamil recs. Outside of Mani Ratnam (top 5 filmmaker for me) who @grim22 recommended, I also recommend films from Shankar (makes big, campy action films), Mysskin (if you want something darker), Vetrimaaran (basically considered the Tamil Martin Scorsese), Hari (smaller scale, campy action films with a lot of family melodrama), Selvaraghan, KS Ravikumar. I would also look up films starring and written by Kamal Hassan. He's one of the best actors in India and the films he has written are impeccable. Hey Ram, Virumaandi, Thevar Magan, Dasavatharam would be great place to start. He directed the first two films mentioned too. Would avoid his comedies tho because their jokes are really dependent on knowing tamil. It's a shame because some of them are some of the funniest films I have ever seen.