Simple, Shankar watched Matrix in between. Everyone has their own perspective, but with the same story line that Shankar is making, he is not going to go anywhere. People know that in Anniyan he is going to fight against corruption, so no surprises in Anniyan. to me

Gentlemen - Indian - Anniayn - same theme, same story telling (huh the flashback)
Mudhalvan - little different in terms of story telling but same story!

Kadhalan - Jeans - Boys - His failed romance/love attempts

Basically shankar make one serious movie and one romance/love movie and this time after Anniyan he is making Sivaji. The main factor on Sivaji is Rajni - He cant use the same corruption with Rajni, cuz Rajni wanted to be away from politics as much as he can. So he will have to come up with a story that wont get Rajni into any trouble.

Lets hope he gives something else other than corruption, cuz his mind is too corrupted with corruption stories.