Shaji Neelakantan Karun was born on new years day 1950 as the eldest son of Mr. N. Karunakaran and Mrs. Chandramati in Kollam district of the state of Kerala, India. The family moved to Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state in 1963. He did his schooling in Palkkulangara H.S., and took a batchelor's degree from University College, Thiruvananthapuram. In 1971 he entered the Filim and Television Institute of India where he took his diploma in Cinematography. He won the President's medal on passing out in 1975. Got married to Anasuya Warrier, who incidentally was his neighbour in Trivandrum for quite some time again on New years day 1975. After a brief stint in the south Indian city of Madras, he returned to Thiruvananthapuram in 1976 where he got an appoinment as film officer in the newly formed state Film Development Corporation. His first son Anil was born on 19 June 1976. His association with the legendary malayalam film maker, G.Aravindan Began at this time and it led to Shaji defining a new outlook in cinematography in Malayalam cinema. His second son Appu was born on 6 June 1981. He made his first major carrer shift in 1988 wher he directed his first feature, Piravi, which received much critical acclaim worldwide. In 1994 he completed his second film Swaham.