While studying for his degree in agriculture, Sukumar stepped in to assist Jeevan for a shoot of Rajiv Menon's Minsara Kanavu (1997).

[2] He subsequently continued working as an assistant photographer in films including Minnale (2001), Samurai (2002) and King (2002) and struck up a good relationship with the lead actor Vikram.

His association with Vikram later led to him being offered the role as the main photographer for the actor's films including Dhool (2003) and Majaa (2005).

[2] While launching Kokki (2006), director Prabhu Solomon asked Sukumar to make his first foray into cinematography but his reluctance meant that his brother Jeevan, was handed the opportunity.

AR Murugadoss also picked Sukumar to work on a single song in his Hindi action film Holiday (2014), during a shoot in Rajasthan.