[4] Hari first joined as an assistant, gaining experience by working with various directors; Senthilnathan, Jeevabalan, Ameerjan, K. Natraj in Valli, Alex Pandian, Nassar in Avatharam.

Film critic Balaji commented that it was "one of the few movies in recent times where a lot of importance seems to have been attached to the script.

In spite of the flimsy story and routine screenplay where a youth grows to be a "dada", the dialogs elevate the quality of the movie and make it very enjoyable".

[10] Its success led to remakes; in Telugu (Lakshmi Narasimha),[11] Kannada (Ayya)[12] and Hindi languages (Policegiri).

Ayyappa Prasad from Nowrunning.com stated that Hari "panders to the taste of his rural audience all the way, but the movie is bound to disappoint city-dwellers, since neither the story nor its treatment appeal to anyone with high IQ.

[16][17] Following its success, the film was remade in Hindi (as Singham), in Kannada (as Kempe Gowda) and Bengali (Shotru).

[18][19] After directing Venghai, a film with Dhanush and Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead, he made a sequel to Singam, with Suriya reprising his role as Duraisingam.

Hari has recurring elements in his films which include "ferocious" protagonists, humorous subplots and item numbers.