Guhanathan was born in Pungudutivu, Sri Lanka to parents Chelliah and Rajeswari in a family of seven kids. He lived in Jaffna until he was eleven years old, before shifting to India. Guhanathan attended Pachaiyappa’s College and his writing abilities were first spotted by actor MGR, who suggested he worked on film scripts and appointed him as director Chankaya's assistant. He first worked on the script for Pudhiya Boomi (1968), aged just 17.Guhanathan later worked for AVM Studios on a contract, and proceeded to write for films starring Sivaji Ganesan, NTR and Akkineni Nageswara Rao.[3] He also wrote Kumarikottam. Under the advice of A. V. Meiyappan, Guhanathan debuted as a producer aged 20 under his banner of AVM Chithramala Combines and made successful films including Kanimuthu Paappa (1972), Rajapart Rangadurai (1973) and Petha Manam Pithu (1973). Telugu producer D. Ramanaidu then requested Guhanathan to direct his Tamil production, Madura Geetham (1977), and since he has gone on to make further films including ventures with Rajinikanth and Ajith Kumar. As of 2010, Guhanathan had written 249 scripts in nine Indian languages, directed 49 films in Tamil and Telugu and produced 51 films in Tamil. He is married to actress Jaya, who he had introduced through the film Kanimuthu Paappa.In May 2009, Guhanathan was elected to the Film Employees Federation of South India and pledged to improve conditions and work closely with producers.[4] During his reign, he oversaw issues including the 9th All India Film Employees Federation Conference in Chennai, the release of Enthiran (2010) and controversial statements made by actor Arya against the Tamil film industry.He quit in 2011 shortly after the 2011 State elections results were released and departed from his post simultaneously with Rama Narayanan who left the TFPC.