Ponnambalam & Crane Manohar Movies Together List — 5 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s account for 60% of everything they made together. The 1990s belonged to Muthu; the 2000s to Arya. Ponnambalam acted in every film; Crane Manohar acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Ponnambalam was a real-life police officer before cinema. Crane Manohar, who worked as a crane operator on film sets, spotted him at a gym and convinced him to try acting. That chance meeting led to their first film together, Nattamai (1994).
• In Muthu (1995), Ponnambalam played the brutal villain while Manohar played his loyal sidekick. Manohar’s real job was to make Ponnambalam look even more menacing — he’d take the first hit in every fight scene, selling the pain so Ponnambalam’s punches felt heavier.
• Muthu’s massive success in Japan (it ran for over a year in Tokyo) directly led to Japanese distributors seeking out more Tamil films with this duo. A small Japanese fan club even tracked down both actors in Chennai in 1997, asking for autographs on Muthu posters.
• On the sets of Diwan (2003), Ponnambalam and Manohar shared a room in a cheap lodge near the shooting spot. Manohar would cook simple meals on a stove because Ponnambalam refused to eat outside food. They did this for all 45 days of the shoot.
• Crane Manohar once said in a 2008 interview: 'Ponnambalam is the only actor who never looked at me as a sidekick. He treated me like a co-star. That’s why I never said no to any film he called me for.'
• In Arya (2007), their last film together, the director wanted Manohar to play a comic sidekick. But Ponnambalam insisted Manohar play a serious henchman instead — because he knew Manohar’s deadpan face made his own villainy scarier. The scene where they corner the hero together is still a fan favourite.