Santhosh Ayyappan is a writer and director who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry. He started his career in film as an assistant to the Tamil film director A.R. Murugadoss. Thereafter, he made his debut in 2016 through the Tamil action thriller film, Kanithan, which he both wrote and directed. This was followed by a Kannada film named Athiratha, for which Santhosh wrote the story. His 2019 releases include the Telugu film Arjun Suravaram. Athiratha and Arjun Suravaram are both remakes of Kanithan.