He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film "Pallavi Anu Pallavi" in 1983, and followed this with the Malayalam film "Unaru" (1984) and the Tamil film "Pagal Nilavu" (1985).
He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film "Pallavi Anu Pallavi" in 1983 and won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay in his very first film. Thenhe directed Malayalam film "Unaru" in 1984 and Tamil film "Pagal Nilavu" (1985).