A man of varied talents, he took to writing in his early twenties, but he became a recognizable face in the local literary circles when his short stories started appearing in popular Tamil weekly magazines such as Ananda Vikatan in 1967.

In his literary career spanning over four decades, Vittal Rao has written[2] 9 novels, 5 collections of 140 short stories and 7 essays ranging from world cinema to fine art, history and literature.

One of his favorite pastimes included browsing the Moor Market, near the Madras Central Railway Station, which used to be a popular hangout of literary and art aficionados where used books from around the world could be bought at a bargain.

To talk about a few of his significant works, Nadhimoolam (Source of the river, 1981), unfolds the lives of three generations of a Madhava Brahmin family, dovetailing the narrative with the happenings and movements outside in society.

In Kaalaveli (Temporal expanse, 1988) the author presents a segment in lives of some students of an arts school with all their aspirations, frustrations, mutual jealousies and compromises in life.