[2][3] Basically a businessman, Thiagarajan made his acting debut with Alaigal Oivathillai (1981), appearing as the elder brother of the film's lead actress Radha.
[8] The film received positive reviews citing that the makers "deserve an appreciation for his honest and sincere attempt on the screen".
In interviews during the period, Thiagarajan mentioned the grand scale of the project, citing that schedules would also be shot abroad; however the film failed to progress.
[11] In early 2007, Thiagarajan approached M. Karunanidhi with the intention of making a film on his adaptation of the Ponnar Shankar epic that he had written in the late 1970s.
The latter accepted Thiagarajan's offer and approved of his decision to cast his son Prashanth, in the dual lead role.
The film received mixed reviews by critics, it took a good opening at the box office, but petered out to do average business commercially and due to its big budget, it failed to recover costs.