Guhanathan was born in
Changanai,
Sri Lanka to parents Chelliah and Rajeswari in a family of seven kids. He lived in
Jaffna until he was eleven years old, before shifting to India. His initials VC stands for Vishwalingam Chellaiya, Vishwalingam is his grandfather's name while Chellaiya is his father's name. Guhanathan attended
Pachaiyappa’s College and his writing abilities were first spotted by actor
MGR, who suggested he worked on film scripts and appointed him as director
Chankaya's assistant. He first worked on the script for
Pudhiya Boomi (1968), aged just 17. Guhanathan later worked for
AVM Studios on a contract, and proceeded to write for films starring
Sivaji Ganesan,
NTR and
Akkineni Nageswara Rao. He also wrote
Kumari Kottam. Under the advice of
A. V. Meiyappan, Guhanathan debuted as a producer aged 20 under his banner of AVM Chithramala Combines and made successful films including
Kanimuthu Paappa (1972),
Rajapart Rangadurai (1973) and
Petha Manam Pithu (1973). Telugu producer
D. Ramanaidu then requested Guhanathan to direct his Tamil production,
Madura Geetham (1977), and since he has gone on to make further films including ventures with
Rajinikanth and
Ajith Kumar. As of 2010, Guhanathan had written 249 scripts in nine Indian languages, directed 49 films in Tamil and Telugu and produced 51 films in Tamil. In May 2009, Guhanathan was elected to the
Film Employees Federation of South India and pledged to improve conditions and work closely with producers. During his reign, he oversaw issues including the 9th All India Film Employees Federation Conference in Chennai, the release of
Enthiran (2010) and controversial statements made by actor
Arya against the Tamil film industry. He quit in 2011 shortly after the 2011 State elections results were released and departed from his post simultaneously with
Rama Narayanan who left the TFPC. ==Filmography==