Best known for playing mostly supporting and comedic roles, Subramaniam Panchu Arunachala, better known by his screen name, Subbu Panchu rose to fame with his role in the super hit Tamil comedy film, Boss Engria Bhaskaran. Coming from an influential family in the Tamil cine industry, Subbu, the son of an acclaimed writer-producer, Panchu Arunachalam, started his career in the film industry as a child artist in the Malayalam film Daisy (1988), before working in his father's production company P.A. Art Productions.

Following a brief hiatus after his maiden appearance on the silver screen, Subbu returned to acting with the popular TV serial Arasi (2007-09). His performance in the soap was much appreciated by the audience and he eventually started doing more films. Following the huge success of Boss Engira Bhaskaran, he subsequently starred in films like Settai (2013), Massu Engira Maasilamani (2015), Aranmanai 2 (2016), Balloon (2017) and Manusana Nee (2018), a crime drama directed by Ghazali.