Vignesh Shivan made a short film and after getting Dharan to compose music for it; showed the film to producers, Gemini Film Circuit, and then to his childhood friend, Silambarasan and both parties agreed to collaborate to make it a feature film titled Podaa Podi (2012).

His second film, Naanum Rowdydhaan (2015), like his first film, went through several changes of cast and production studios, before finalising on Vijay Sethupathi and Nayantara as actors and Dhanush as producer. The film, for which he drew inspiration from the lives of his parents, opened to highly positive reviews in October 2015.