Kannan made his debut as a film maker by directing Yaar? (1985), a horror film which gave a breakthrough to actor Arjun in the Tamil film industry. The success of the film prompted the director to use the film's name as a prefix and he subsequently went on to make several films in the late 1980s with Ramarajan including Namma Ooru Nayagan (1988), Anbu Kattalai (1989) and Kaavalan (1990).

Kannan made a comeback with Yuga (2006), a low-budget science-fiction film featuring Richard, 'Ice' Ashok and Manikandan. Produced by fifty eight financiers, the film received negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office. He then supervised the Tamil version of the Telugu film Punnami Naagu featuring Mumaith Khan and helped release it as Pournami Naagam (2010). The film, which was partially dubbed and partially re-shot, failed to recreate the success of the original Tamil version.[3][4] In 2010, he planned a fantasy trilingual film titled Piravi with Master Vinay in the lead role, thought the venture failed to materialise.

He has let several aspiring directors apprentice under him, including Azhagan Selva of Azhagu Magan, Suriya Nithi of Vilambaram and actor Maruthi of Marumunai.[6][7][8] In the 2010s, Kannan has made appearances as an actor in films, working twice with director Prabhu Solomon and with director Ponram in the film Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam.