[5] When Palaniappan moved to Madras (now Chennai) with his family in search of work, he got a job in the government newspaper Tamil Arasu.

[6][5] Bharathi began his career by editing articles, mainly correcting factual errors, in publications including Neerottam and Porval.

He achieved significant success writing all the songs for Ullathai Allitha (1996), and the 1995–1997 period is considered his "golden years", during which he wrote for over 100 films.

[7] Bharathi prefers to write in simple, understandable language, taking inspiration from Kannadasan and Vaali.

[8] Palani Bharathi wrote slanderous articles about Malathy Maitri, a founder of the feminist literary movement Anangu, and was eventually forced to write a public apology.