Upon reading his poems, he was signed on as a lyricist by the director Bharathiraja for the film "Nizhalgal" in the year 1980. The first song he wrote in his career, was "Pon Maalai Pozhuthu", which was composed by "Isaignani" Ilaiyaraaja and sung by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam. The first song of his that was released, was "Batrakali Uttamaseeli" (also composed by Ilaiyaraaja) from the film "Kaali", which was released four months before "Nizhalgal". Vairamuthu quit his career as a translator to work full-time in the film industry.