Jaishankar & Major Sundarrajan Movies Together List — 16 Films

The shape of the work

The 1970s account for 63% of everything they made together. The 1960s belonged to Akka Thangai; the 1980s to Garjanai. Jaishankar acted in every film; Major Sundarrajan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Jaishankar once told a magazine: "Sundarrajan sir could make me laugh with just a raised eyebrow. I learned more about timing from his silences than from any dialogue coach."
• They first shared screen space in Akka Thangai (1969), but the real spark came when director A. C. Tirulokchandar cast them together in Naangu Killadigal (1969) — a film that needed two actors who could switch between comedy and intensity without missing a beat. Jaishankar was the rising action hero; Major Sundarrajan was the seasoned stage actor. Tirulokchandar bet the film on their contrast.
• In Cinema Paithiyam (1975), Jaishankar played a film-obsessed fan and Major Sundarrajan played his exasperated father. The entire emotional weight of the film rests on a single scene where Sundarrajan silently watches Jaishankar mimic a movie star — Sundarrajan’s stillness forced Jaishankar to dial down his usual energy and play it raw. That scene is still shared on Tamil fan pages.
• Their film Garjanai (1981) directly inspired the 1985 Hindi hit Mera Saathi, which was a near scene-for-scene remake. The original Tamil version’s success — driven by the Jaishankar-Sundarrajan pairing — convinced producers to buy the remake rights for Bollywood.
• Major Sundarrajan was a retired army man who never called Jaishankar by his screen name. On every set, he addressed him as "Srinivasan" — Jaishankar’s real name. Jaishankar later said it was Sundarrajan’s way of keeping him grounded, especially after he became a star.
• In Ore Thandhai (1976), they played brothers with a 20-year age gap. Major Sundarrajan, the older brother, deliberately slowed his dialogue delivery in every confrontation scene — so Jaishankar’s angry outbursts would hit harder. It was Sundarrajan’s idea, not the director’s.