Hailing from a village Sullia, Karnataka, Santhosh was born to an agricultural and well-educated family. After completing his graduation he moved to Mumbai to pursue his dream of making movies. He started his career as a Production Designer.

He directed his debut feature film Home Stay (2016) in Hindi and Kannada. The Tamil version was titled Dhigil. He then formed a company Named Drusti Media and Productions through which he worked on advertisements, corporate, social, and political profile films. He then designed, directed and produced the Kannada movie Ondanondu Kaladalli Obba Raja Idda, based on `Once there as a King` by Rabindranath Tagore.

He then directed and produced Ravike Prasanga (2024).