Sam Anton & Yogi Babu Movies Together List — 3 Films

The shape of the work

Sam Anton directed every film; Yogi Babu acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Sam Anton cast Yogi Babu in 'Enakku Innoru Per Irukku' (2016) after seeing him in a small role in 'Pizza 2: Villa'. Yogi had just 2 lines in that film, but Sam felt he had the timing for a full comedy track. He called Yogi directly, no audition.
• On the set of '100' (2019), Sam Anton let Yogi Babu improvise every single dialogue in the police station scene. Yogi rewrote his lines in real time, and Sam kept the camera rolling. That entire 8-minute sequence was one continuous take — no cuts, no retakes.
• The success of '100' (2019) directly led to Yogi Babu being cast as the lead in 'Mandela' (2021). The producer of 'Mandela' saw Yogi's comic timing in '100' and decided he could carry a full political satire on his shoulders. Without that film, Yogi might never have gotten his first solo lead.
• Sam Anton and Yogi Babu share a running joke: every time they finish a film, Sam buys Yogi a single packet of 'Mysore Pak' from the same shop in T. Nagar. Yogi says it's their 'closing ritual'. They've done it for all three films, even when 'Gurkha' (2019) flopped critically.
• Yogi Babu said about Sam Anton: 'He is the only director who lets me be stupid on screen without making me feel stupid off it. He knows when to say cut and when to let me ramble.' — from a 2019 interview with Behindwoods.