Harish Shankar was born on March 31^st, 1979 into orthodox Brahmin family in an Agraharam in Dharmapuri (Karim Nagar district and one km away from Godavari River). His father was a Telugu teacher and he completed his education from Kinder Garden to MBA in BHEL, Hyderabad. 

Harish studied in Telugu medium and is an avid reader of Telugu literature. His father was a movie buff and used to take Harish to film theaters along with him. He worked as writer for some drama companies in his intermediate days. He even acted in some of those dramas. With his aspirations to be an actor, he joined the National School of Drama but very soon realized that he is not an actor material.

Harish tried a lot to join EVV Satya Narayana as one of his assistant writers but failed to get through. He joined as assistant director to S Gopal Reddy (Durga Arts) who was planning Ninne Ista Paddanu. He met Kona Venkat there and with his help, he worked for Ravi Teja’s Veede as Assistant director and later as co-director for Autograph.

During the shooting of Autograph, he used to narrate stories to Ravi Teja who was very impressed with him.  At that time Ram Gopal Varma was planning to produce a film with Ravi Teja and Jyothika in the direction of Prawaal Raman (Darna Mana Hain fame) in Telugu. Since Prawaal Raman was a Hindi guy, Ravi Teja wanted a Telugu guy in direction department. He suggested Harish Shankar as a co-director to Ram Gopal Varma. Harish and Kona went to Mumbai to listen to the story. But after the narration, Harish Shankar made it clear to RGV that this project will not work out for Ravi Teja. RGV was impressed with his dareness and gave him a direction chance. It was how 'Shock' happend. But the movie failed miserably at the box office.

It was almost the end of career for Harish as everyone thought with Shock failure. He was demoted once again to assistant director and writer. He worked with Puri for Chirutha and Bujjigadu. NTR was the first hero after ‘Shock’ debacle to listen to a story from Harish. The movie was titled MLA – Manchi Lakshanalunna Abbayi but the project did not go on to sets for some reasons. 5 years after the release of Shock, he directed Ravi Teja once again in Mirapakaay and the movie went on to become the biggest grosser in the actor’s career. His third movie was a bigger hit even. He got a chance to direct Pawan Kalyan in the remake of Dabangg – Gabbar Singh. The movie ended up becoming the second biggest grosser of All Time in Telugu film industry.

However, his recent film, Ramayya Vasthavayya was a disappointment at the box office. The movie release amid huge expectations but fell short of them. Harish Shankar’s career slowed down after Ramayya Vasthavayya failure. After a good gap, he managed to get a new project with Sai Dharam Tej.