Jayasankar is a documentary filmmaker and researcher who lives in Mumbai.

He is currently Professor at the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

He completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Maharaja's College, Kochi in 1973 and a master's degree in German studies from Department of Foreign Languages, Mumbai University, in 1982.

He has done his Ph.D. in humanities and social sciences from Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, in 1991.

Jayasankar joined the Audio-Visual Unit, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, in 1986, which is now the School of Media and Cultural Studies.