In May 2011, Karthi began working on the political comedy film "Saguni", directed by Shankar Dayal and featuring him amongst an ensemble cast of supporting actors. He played Kamalakannan in the film, a villager who comes to the city to save his palatial house in Karaikudi from being destroyed for a politician's personal gain and unknowingly transforms to become a kingmaker in Tamil Nadu politics. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics, and became a box office failure. He later appeared in the 2013 Pongal release "Alex Pandian", opposite Anushka Shetty, which also opened to negative critical response upon release.