He penned the story and dialogues for some of his mentor's films between 1980–82 like "Nizhalgal", "Tick Tick Tick", "Alaigal Oivathillai" and "Kaadhal Oviyam". Manivannan assisted Bharathiraja in a handful of films like "Koththa Jeevithaalu" (Telugu), "Red Rose" (Hindi) starring Rajesh Khanna and "Lovers" (Hindi).He learned trade hard and fast within two years under Bharatiraja and by 1982 made his directorial début. He had also penned the story and dialogues for a bunch of other films like "Lottery Ticket" acted by Mohan and Prabhu, "Agaya Gangai" acted by Karthik, "Nesam" acted by Ajith Kumar. In "Kodi Parakuthu", directed by Bharathiraja, Manivannan did the villain's role.