Chakravarthy was working as a script writer for Kannada director Puttanna Kanagal. He was noticed by movie producer Tiruppur Mani who in 1977, gave him a role in the Kannada film Parasangada Gendetimma. This movie was later remade into Tamil. Since then, Chakravarthy has made over 1,000 films in four South Indian languages - 900 in Tamil, 30 in Malayalam, 5 in Telugu and one in Badaga language. His last movie was Vaayai Mudi Pesavum in 2014.