Arun’s penchant for writing goes back to his high school days where he began writing poems and short stories for the local dailies and magazines. That passion combined with his skills as an entertainer soon lead him to a successful career in the regional Tamil (one of the southern languages in India) television industry. There, he wrote, directed and hosted more than 50 shows including ‘Hollywood Special’ for Raj TV that was highly rated by both the public and the critics. Arun was also popular for his engaging interviews with leading Tamil movie stars and singers through his series titled ‘Star Time’.

Soon after he moved to US, Arun ventured into film making with his short films after completing a moviemaking course in NYFA. His short film “As you wish” won accolades at the recently concluded Lower East side film festival in New York. One of his highly acclaimed and popular films, “Br(a)illiant” won the ‘Exile Award’ in London Vimbam Film Festival. He was selected as Mania TV’s ‘Featured Film Maker’ twice and his short film “Stinking cigar” was selected as the ‘Featured Film’ and went on air for an entire week. His “Power cut” was reviewed by the Internet Video Magazine while his most recent Tamil short film “Thaniyoru Manidhanukku” had the honor of featuring in three film festivals including IAAC, New York (Renowned Filmmakers Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair and Gurinder Chadda were part of the Advisory Committee at IAAC and attended the festival).

On the writing front, his recent science fiction “Bimba Uyirgal” won the ‘International Tamil Sci-Fi Competition’ in which one of India’s highly respected writer, Sujatha judged the entries. This story was also chosen to be part of a book with collections of Sci-Fi stories in Tamil.
Some of Arun’s movies are also popular at ‘Trigger Street’, the online short film community for independent moviemakers, co founded by Academy Award Winner Kevin Spacey. The following are some of the best short films by Arun available for free viewing at TriggerStreet.com (selected audience reviews added)

BR(A)ILLIANT - “Delivers as advertised, comedy, mystery and suspense. Filmmaker has talent in all, would love to see a bigger budget effort.”

NOOSE - “ Great film for playing with perceptions... Several times i began to think one thing would happen, when something completely different happened. This was a very surprising little short, very fun to watch”

STINKING CIGAR - “ This director takes on quite a challenge for a short of this length. To build a story of this depth, make us believe it, and feel it, and care about it, is no easy task.”

AS YOU WISH - “I feel 'As You Wish' is one of the better ones and it's good to see Arun striving for excellence. He makes me think of filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman!”

POWERCUT - “ Well, I would have never thought possible that anyone in any Western society would benefit from a power cut. Was I wrong! Nice idea Mr. Vaidyanathan, well done. Your short was clever and delivered quickly.”