After assisting
Mahendran, Kannan made his debut as a filmmaker by directing
Yaar? (1985), a horror film which gave a breakthrough to actor
Arjun in the Tamil film industry. The success of the film prompted the director to use the film's name as a prefix and he subsequently went on to make several films in the late 1980s with
Ramarajan including
Namma Ooru Nayagan (1988),
Anbu Kattalai (1989) and
Kaavalan (1990). Kannan made a comeback with
Yuga (2006), a low-budget science-fiction film featuring
Richard, 'Ice' Ashok and
Manikandan. Produced by fifty-eight financiers, the film received negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office. He then supervised the Tamil version of the Telugu film
Punnami Naagu featuring
Mumaith Khan and helped release it as
Pournami Naagam (2010). The film failed to recreate the success of the original Telugu version. In 2010, he planned a fantasy trilingual film titled
Piravi with Master Vinay in the lead role, though the venture failed to materialise. He has let several aspiring directors apprentice under him, including Azhagan Selva of
Azhagumagan, Suriya Nithi of
Vilambaram and actor Maruthi of
Marumunai. In the 2010s, Kannan has made appearances as an actor in films, working twice with director
Prabhu Solomon and with director Ponram in the film
Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam. ==Filmography==