Thirunavukarasu is a cinematographer in the Indian film industry, specialising in documentaries and advertising. Tirru's films are in the Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam languages. He has worked for the veteran cinematographer P. C. Sriram and for Raj Kamal Productions. He was born in a village in the Salem district. He became interested in photography whilst studying science in college. He assisted his cousin, a dentist by profession, in the latter's passion for nature photography. He is married to Sarojini, an architect in Chennai and they have two children, Smrithi and Prahathyan.