Mahesh Mathai began his career as a director in advertising films in 1982 and soon established a reputation as one of India's best talents. His work for a range of clients including Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Cadburys, Chevrolet, Eveready, McDowells, Philips, Asian Paints, Times of India, Seagrams, ICICI Bank and India Tourism covered nearly every possible category and won numerous Awards.

In 1987 he founded Highlight Films and added a panel of directors, the first in India to do this, and it went on to become one of the most successful advertising commercials companies in India. One of the pioneers of music video industry in the country, he partnered with Sony Music and BMG Records to launch the careers of singer Lucky Ali, and the band Bombay Vikings.

In 2000 he made feature film, Bhopal Express (with which launched the new composer trio of Ehsaan, Loy and Shankar) which opened the Panorama section to the prestigious Berlin Film Festival and won 7 International Awards.

He lives in Bombay having completed a British film Broken Thread starring Linus Roache (Batman Begins, Wings of a Dove, Hart's War, Chronicles of Riddick), Saffron Burrows (In the Name of the Father, Ganster Number One; Enigma; Troy; and Klimt.), Andrea Corr (The Commitments, Evita) and Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Monsoon Wedding). It is currently awaiting release.