Gemini Ganesan & Anjali Devi Movies Together List — 5 Films

The shape of the work

Gemini Ganesan acted in every film; Anjali Devi acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• They first faced the camera together in Veerakkanal (1960) only because the original heroine walked out. Anjali Devi stepped in last minute, and the director rewrote the climax to give their pairing more screen time.
• In Mangaiyar Ullam Mangatha Selvam (1962), Gemini Ganesan kept flubbing a key emotional scene. Anjali Devi quietly started crying real tears mid-scene — not acting — and that raw reaction pulled him into the performance. The take made the final cut.
• Their 1963 blockbuster Lava Kusa was the first Tamil film to gross over ₹1 crore at the box office. That record directly led to producers greenlighting more mythological epics with big star pairs — a trend that dominated Tamil cinema for the next five years.
• During the shoot of Pangaaligal (1961), Gemini Ganesan would bring Anjali Devi fresh jasmine from his own garden every morning. She later said it was the only time a co-star treated her like family, not just a colleague.
• "He made me laugh between takes, then switch to tears the moment the camera rolled. I never had to prepare — he set the mood for both of us." — Anjali Devi, in a 1985 interview about working with Gemini Ganesan.
• The 1964 remake of Veerakkanal was shot because the first version's prints were damaged in a fire. Gemini and Anjali agreed to reshoot the entire film for free — and that second version became the one that inspired a 1978 Telugu remake starring N. T. Rama Rao.