A three-time Nandi Award winner, Rasool Ellore's impressive artistic repertoire features credits as a cinematographer, filmmaker and screenwriter. He started out in the industry as an assistant cameraman in the late 1980s, working under his brother-in-law and noted cinematographer S. Gopala Reddy before making his debut as an independent cameraman with the comedy Allari Alludu (1993). In the same year, Rasool won the Nandi Award for Best Cinematographer for his work in the political thriller Gaayam (1993). Subsequently, he rose to prominence courtesy of his work in Tollywood and Bollywood films like Gulabi (1995), Daud: Fun on the Run (1997) and Chitram (2000).

In 2003, Rasool made his directorial debut with the romantic drama Okariki Okaru, which he also co-wrote. The film opened to positive reviews, and earned Rasool the Nandi Award for Best Debut Director that year. He has since directed two more films: the Ravi Teja starrer Bhageeratha (2005) and Sangamam (2008). Other significant film credits as a cinematographer include the action comedy Kick (2009), the romantic thriller Oosaravelli (2011), Shivam (2015) and the family drama Ammammagarillu (2018).