Sriimurali made his lead debut in films in 2003 with a romance film,
Chandra Chakori. The film performed well and his performance received praise. In
Kanti set in the backdrop of the
Karnataka–Maharashtra border dispute, he played the eponymous lead of a college student who, on falling in love with a Marathi girl, gets embroiled politically. His performance won him the
Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor. Sriimurali then appeared in films such as
Yashwanth,
Siddhu,
Shambu and
Preethigaagi, which did not perform well at the box office. In 2008, he appeared in
Minchina Ota, produced by his father, also starring brother Vijay Raghavendra. He also takes care of the production responsibilities of his family banner
Sowbhagya Pictures, under which several films produced by his father were made such as
Sevanthi Sevanthi and
Ganesha Matthe Banda. After hits
Chandra Chakori, and
Kanti, Sri Murali could not keep up the expectations of the audiences and all of his consecutive films were flops.
Prashanth Neel (Murali's brother in law) came up with an action drama story in 2008, exclusively for taking off Sri Murali's career again on a high note. The movie was initially named
Nandhe and later changed to
Ugramm. It took nearly 4–5 years for completion of the project, which marked Neel's directorial debut. The film was released in 2014. In the film, Sri Murali played the role of Agastya, a mechanic, who protects Nithya (played by
Haripriya) from being caught alive by goons, and takes on the mafia. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success with his performance receiving acclaim. He received his first nominations for Best Actor in
Filmfare Awards South and
SIIMA Awards. Following the massive success of the film, it was reported that he was flooded with offers for film totaling to 67, all of which he rejected. ==Filmography==