Charan began working as a playback singer in 1997 with "Deepangal Pesum" from
Devathai, with music composed by
Ilaiyaraaja. About being the son of an icon, he stated: "my voice sounds so much like appa, people might not want to use a similar voice. When SPB himself is rocking, why would composers need his clone?". He has sung for composers
M. M. Keeravani,
A. R. Rahman and
Devi Sri Prasad. Charan's most popular songs include "Nagila Nagila" from
Alai Payuthey, "Mellaga" from
Varsham, "Nenu Nenuga Lene" from
Manmadhudu, "I Love you Shailaja" from
Mazhai, "Please Sir" from
Boys, "Maaja Maaja" from
Sillunu Oru Kaadhal, "Oru Nanban Irundhal" from
Enakku 20 Unakku 18, "O Shanti" from
Vaaranam Aayiram, "Nee Naan" from
Mankatha. In 2010, he recorded a song in
Kadhal 2 Kalyanam, composed by
Yuvan Shankar Raja. He also recorded alongside his father for the first time in
Aadukalam, for which they both won the
Vijay Award for Best Male Playback Singer. Charan first acted with his father in a film called
Maha Yedabidangi, directed by
K. S. L. Swamy, but the film was not released. Balachander's son Kailasam approached him to act in the television show
Oonjal, produced by
K. Balachander and directed by Sundar K. Vijayan. In 2008, he played one of the lead roles in
Venkat Prabhu's
Saroja. On his performance, Sify wrote: "S.P.B Charan as Jagapathy Babu suits the role and is fantastic". He acted in
Va, in which he played Shiva's prospective brother-in-law. He acted in two Tamil films
Vanavarayan Vallavarayan and
Vizhithiru.
Other works Charan established the film production company Capital Film Works, in 2002. Their first production was
Unnai Charanadainthen, in which Charan played the lead role, alongside his friend
Venkat Prabhu. The film, which notably featured musical score by Charan's father, Balasubrahmanyam, received four
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. which was a failure at the box office. In 2011, his sixth production
Aaranya Kaandam, was released to critical acclaim and became noted for getting 52 cuts by the regional
Central Board of Film Certification. Although it did not achieve the expected box office success, Charan won a
National Film Award as a producer of the film. His next production was
Thirudan Police, by another debutant,
Caarthick Raju. SP Charan designed and produced SPB50 concert tour with his father
SP Balasubrahmanyam and was felicitated for his 50 years of journey in the industry. The concert tour held in Toronto, Russia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and few places in the United States like Seattle, Los Angeles, New Jersey. Other singers like
KS Chithra,
Kalpana Raghavendra,
SP Sailaja were part of the series. Starting from Dubai expo 2020, SP Charan has been part of
Ilayaraaja's shows and has accompanied him in various other shows that has been conducted in United Kingdom, the USA, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Muscat and in various cities in India including Yuva Dasara Mysore 2024. As a tribute to his father, he toured "Simply SPB" in 2023 and performed in various venues across the United States in many of the same venues where his father had performed before. Singers
SP Sailaja,
Sai Vignesh and Srisha were part of the series. An event in the series also happened in Bangalore, where singers in the Kannada industry, including Rajesh Krishnan, VijayaPrakash, Anuradha Bhat, also performed. In June 2025, on the occasion of
Lal Salam movie release in OTT platform
Sun Nxt, the music director
AR Rahman published in his social media handles that, SP Charan's song 'Ena senji Ena senji ena valaccha" will be part of this release version. In 2025, he has been part of stage shows performed by music director
Deva in India and Australia along with Srikanth Deva, Anuradha Sriram. ==Personal life==