During his stint at engineering college, Ramesh Aravind worked as an emcee to award functions, notably as the host of an event celebrating the success of the film, "Sagara Sangamam" (1983), where he met his long-term collaborator Kamal Haasan for the first time. He then started off by hosting a show on Kannada television, before beginning work on a Kannada-language film titled "Mouna Geethe" where he had a supporting role. Prior to the release of the film, he was approached by director K. Balachander who had been looking for an actor to play Kamal Haasan's role, for a Kannada version of the Tamil film "Sollathaan Ninaikkiren" (1973). After a brief audition, Balachander selected Ramesh Aravind after being "impressed with his eyes" and cast him as the playboy character in the venture titled "Sundara Swapnagalu" (1986), which released shortly before "Mouna Geethe" in which he had acted first. Balachander then gave him a small role in "Punnagai Mannan" (1986) as Revathi's ex-lover, but his scenes were ultimately edited out of the final version. He was set to collaborate with the director again in the Tamil film "Manathil Uruthi Vendum" (1987), but Balachander later recommended to Ramesh Aravind to opt out of the film and work on a venture with K. Bhagyaraj instead, to mark his debut in a leading role. The proposed film was later shelved, and the actor returned to the cast of "Manathil Uruthi Vendum", winning critical acclaim for his performance. Balachander also introduced Ramesh Aravind into Telugu films through "Rudraveena", with the actor having a distinct trait of being introduced into three different film industries by the same director.