A. Karunakaran (born 25 December 1971) is a Telugu film director known for Tholi Prema (1998), Happy (2006), Ullasamga Utsahamga (2008) and Darling (2010).

[1] Karunakaran began his career as a clap director for Kadhal Desam (1996) after Sasi introduced him to Kathir.

[3] Karunakaran collaborated with Pawan Kalyan for Balu ABCDEFG (2005), but the film was a failure unlike Tholi Prema.

[4][5] The following year, Happy (2006), based on the Tamil film Azhagiya Theeye (2004) released and was a box office success.

[8] He then directed a bilingual titled Endhukante Premanta in Telugu and Yen Endral Kadhal Enben in Tamil.