Born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Hariharan completed a basic degree in commerce from Poddar College, Mumbai and later joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune to do a course in screen-writing and direction. His father, H Krishnan a qualified cinematographer also served the Eastman Kodak as its vice-president. After passing out of the FTII, Hariharan formed "Yukt Films Co-operative" together with his batch mates that included Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Kamal Swaroop and their senior FTII alumni Mani Kaul. The co-operative made an experimental film in Marathi named "Ghashiram Kotwal". Describing the film as "an esoteric piece of art", it was entered into the Berlin International Film Festival in 1978. The film was screened again at the festival inn 2014 after being digitally restored. As a young film-maker Hariharan started making films for Children's Film Society (India). After that he started making children's films on the insistence of V. Shantaram, thus making "Wanted Thangaraj" (1979) which also was his directional debut in Tamil. After the release of the film, he relocated to Chennai and started working on Tamil films. His "Ezhavathu Manithan", which marked Raghuvaran's debut, won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil and the Afro-Asian solidarity award. The film was also nominated for Golden St. George (Best Film) Award at the 35th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1991, he made his Bollywood debut through "Current" that starred Om Puri and Deepti Naval in the lead. Made on a shoestring budget, the film focused on the plight of farmers in India.