Though an average success at the time of its release, the movie has gained cult following among the viewers over the years. He followed it up with the comedy cop thriller - Inspector Vikram - which was a first of its kind in Kannada cinema at that time. The movie, featuring eight stars, was made on a shoestring budget of just 1.5 million INR and shot at a single location within 36 hours then creating a record for the fastest completion of an Indian film. His next movie was the hugely successful thriller Idu Saadhya in 1989. His directorial career in the Kannada film world took off with Suprabhatha - a film with Vishnuvardhan and Suhasini which became a box office hit creating many records and gave a major boost to the career of Dinesh babu. Although his camera skills were widely appreciated in Mollywood, his ambition took him to the world of Kannada films where he chose to direct rather than handle the camera.
He also directed a Malayalam film named Mazhavillu starring Kunchacko Boban and Preeti Jhangiani. This also helped him to have first hand knowledge of every technical aspect of cinema, which a director need not be necessarily familiar with. Great talent in cinematography was the springboard that launched him to great success in the world of cinema. He stood behind the camera for noted Malayalam films like Dhruvam, King, Ullasa Poonkattu and the blockbuster movie Commissioner which was instrumental in raising Suresh Gopi, currently a superstar in Malayalam movie world to stardom. His career in cinema started as a cinematographer.