He is a graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India, the premier Film School in Asia, and the prestigious University of Iowa, at Iowa City. He is an accomplished filmmaker, and his recent documentaries include Unfinished Journey: A City in Transition (2012), Migrations of Islam (2014) and Hmong Memory at the Crossroads (2015). His research focuses on the history, theory and production of documentaries, and the specificity of Tamil cinema and its complex relationship with Hollywood as well as popular Hindi films. His recent books are Cinema: Sattagamum Saalaramum (Nizhal, 2013), an anthology of essays on documentaries and experimental films in Tamil and Madras Studios: Narrative, Genre, and Ideology in Tamil Cinema (Sage Publications, 2015). His recent essays are: