Donning several roles in the film industry, Santosh Pawar is an actor, writer, colorist, and director, who works mainly in the Marathi film industry. Since 2005 Santosh has worked as a colorist in several film industries, starting with Page 3. He went on to work on movies like No Entry (2005), The Blue Umbrella (2005), Chup Chup Ke (2006), Sarkar Raj (2008), Do Dooni Chaar (2010), Goynar Baksho (2013), Queen (2013), Hate Story 3 (2015), 1920 London (2016), Bambukat (2016), Nikka Zaildar (2016), Conditions Apply: Ati Lagu (2017), Jora 10 Numbaria (2017), Nikka Zaildar 2 (2017), 1921 (2018), Ratanpur (2018), and Sajjan Singh Rangroot (2018). Santosh turned actor in 2007 with the comedy, Hawa Hawaee. He also acted in the short film, Dadu (2013). In 2008 Santosh made his directorial debut with the Marathi play, Dili Supari Baikochi. He made his debut as a screenwriter with the comedy, Lagnachi Varat Londonchya Gharat (2009).

In 2018 Santosh served as a writer on director Milind Dastane's romantic drama, Hichyasathi Kay Pan. The cast includes Kushal Badrike, Nagesh Bhosle, Vijay Chavan, Nirmiti Sawant, Shrinivas Kulkarni and Bhargavi Chirmuley in pivotal roles.