Soundar Rajan completed a degree in Visual Communications at Loyola College, Chennai before approaching P. C. Sreeram for work experience.

Sreeram recommended him to K. V. Anand, who accepted him as an assistant, and they subsequently worked on films including Nerukku Ner (1997), Mudhalvan (1999) and Josh (2000), before continuing as an apprentice till Khakee (2004).

Soundar Rajan made his debut as a lead cinematographer with Sukran (2005), before going on to work on Kana Kandaen (2005), directed by his mentor K. V.

Soundar Rajan also then continued work on Tamil films including a collaboration with Anand again in Maattrraan (2012), where Suriya portrayed conjoined twins and the crew used up to five different techniques to get the desired illusion on screen.

[3] He also won critical acclaim for his work in the bilingual Vaayai Moodi Pesavum (2014) for his depiction of a fictional hill town.