Among the top rated director's comes Cheran who rose to dizzy heights with his debut film 'Bharathikannama' starring Parthipan and Meena. Cheran started out his career as an assistant to K S Ravikumar. Hailing from Tirunelveli district which is always in tension due to caste clashes. The young man caught the attention of producer Henry. Henry is the producer of the Malayalam film 'Yavanika' directed by K G George. After that he made his entry in Tamil with 'Kolangal', a subject based on a girl rescued from the red light area in Mumbai facing social problems back home in Chennai. Henry who always insisted that the film should not only be commercial but also have a strong offbeat theme found in Cheran the youth who has a love story which would also stir up the public because it was loaded with some cast based attitude existing in Tamilnadu.

'Bharathikannama' was released along with Mani Rathnam's 'Iruvar' and Rajiv Menon's 'Minsara Kanavu'. Parthipan's ratings in the box office was low at that point of time and Cheran an unknown director. The films of the top rated directed fell by the wayside and 'Bharathikannama' had a dream run. The subject was about a Harijan youth in love with a Thevar zamindar girl. Their caste comes as a barrier and when the girl marriage is fixed, the youth is helpless and lacks guts to express his love. The girl commits suicide while the youth jumps into the burning pyre and also dies. In the districts where the Thevar's were in majority the film was verbally banned by their organizations because they could not digest a Harijan youth wooing a Thevar girl and falling on top of her dead body to commit suicide. This controversy was enough to fuel its popularity. Cheran became an overnight star director.

Controversy has been the hallmark of Cheran from the start. The next film 'Porkalam' again stirred a hornet's nest. The subject dealt with the stigma attached to a handicapped girl in a rural setup. Murali, a potter by profession has a dumb sister. He and Meena, a weaver in the village are in love. After much difficulty the brother gets a groom but the marriage falls through because his drunken father steals the money kept for dowry. Crestfallen the sister commits suicide and Murali as a penance decides to marry an handicapped girl. The film's offbeat subject and songs by Deva made it into a hit. The controversey was over the casting of Meena. The film had Sanghavi, a village belle madly obsessed with Murali and story revolved around the dumb sister while Meena had very little to do except come in two songs and few scenes. Rumors that Cheran and Meena were having an affair got the film publicity and lot of curious viewers.

After giving two hits in a row the industry began to treat Cheran as a top rated director and his fees was Rs. 50lakhs. Keeping in line with his two earlier films he came up with 'Desiyageetham' which created a controversy while in the making. A particular shot was filmed in which the banner reads 'Oh leader and protector of three generations of Tamizh culture, may you live long. In walks Nasser wearing dark glasses etc as Chief Minister. The four youths led by Murali spit on the banner and abuse Nasser. Reports had it that Tamilnadu Chief Minister was very unhappy over it. The film is about a Chief minister and his family being kidnapped and taken to a remote village making them undergo the hardships of village life to learn about it. The Chief Minsiter's character resembled Karunanidhi and the dialogues were acidic and an indictment of the government.

This time however Cheran's formula of playing with controversies to bring in the crowds failed. In cities it had a seventy day run and in villages it was a washout. The film which spoke about the hardships of villagers and portrayed them was ironically rejected by the suffering people. A dejected Cheran has now decided to change track and decided on a romantic film starring Prasanth. Will the leopard change its spots is the doubt that lingers in the mind of the industry but this change is definitely a loss for Tamil filmdom which witnessed a whiff of fresh air from the likes of Cheran.