Having portrayed mostly comic and negative roles throughout his career, Chandru is a character actor, and has acted in over 500 films since making his debut in 1983.

[4] He served as the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority till 2013 before quitting the party to join the Indian National Congress (INC) in 2014.

Chandru was born on 28 August 1953 into a family of farmers of Narasimhaiah and Thimmamma in Honnasandra, a village in the taluk of Nelamangala of Bangalore Rural district, in the Indian State of Mysore (now called Karnataka).

Recognizing his contribution to Kannada theatre and activism in promoting and safeguarding Kannada-language, Chandru was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Gulbarga University.

In 1978, Chandru, then a part of the troupe Kalagangotri, was chosen to play Krishna Dwaipayana Kaushal, the Chief Minister of a fictitious Indian State of Udayanchal.

Chandru accepted the ticket offered by the ruling Janata Party to contest the 1985 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election from Gauribidanur.

[8] Speaking about an incident to The Times of India of his stint as the Member of the Legislative Assembly, he said that the officers who assisted him when he "decided to get tough with the sand-mining mafia controlled by a liquor baron in his constituency" were transferred, and when he complained to Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, he was to told to "get practical".

[11] In his tenure as the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), Chandru advocated very strongly for the protection and promotion of the Kannada-language.

[13] In 2011, under Chandru's chairpersonship, the KDA recommended to the Karnataka government to make it mandatory for immigrants in the State to clear the Class VII-level tests of the language.

Other recommendations included the use of Kannada software in cellphones, and to take over all ancient palm-leaf manuscripts in private possession and declare them state property.