Kushboo & Ilayaraja Movies Together List — 33 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-06-02 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Kushboo and Ilayaraja appeared together in 33 Tamil films between 1988 and 2001. Their highest-rated collaboration was Nadigan (1990 — 7.7/10). Films span Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988) through Kaatrukkenna Veli (2001).
The Kushboo & Ilayaraja partnership
Their work runs across 3 decades of Tamil cinema. 1990 was their peak — 8 films in twelve months. For 13 years, a Kushboo–Ilayaraja film arrived almost every year.
From Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988) to Kaatrukkenna Veli (2001). Chinna Vathiyar (1995, 7.5/10) is the underseen one in the catalogue.
The shape of the work
The 1990s account for 85% of everything they made together. The 1980s belonged to Dharmathin Thalaivan; the 2000s to Karisakattu Poove. Kushboo acted in every film; Ilayaraja scored all of them.
33 films across 3 decades
The 1980s accounted for 3 films, averaging 4.5/10.
The 1990s brought 28 films together, anchored by Nadigan (7.7/10).
The 2000s accounted for 2 films, averaging 4.5/10.
- Dharmathin Thalaivan
- Varusham Padhinaaru
- Nadigan
- En Kitta Mothathey
- Karisakattu Poove
- Kaatrukkenna Veli0
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
33 films across 13 years represents focused partnership.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 2 languages, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
65% of Kushboo's screen credits are with Ilayaraja. After Kaatrukkenna Veli, Ilayaraja kept going for 38 more films; Kushboo stepped back.
Before Dharmathin Thalaivan, Kushboo had starred in 4 films, including Meri Jung (1985) and Jaanoo (1985).
After Kaatrukkenna Veli, Kushboo went on to appear in 14 more films, including Periyar (2007) and Stalin (2006).
Dharmathin Thalaivan was Ilayaraja's acting debut.
After Kaatrukkenna Veli, Ilayaraja went on to appear in 38 more films, including Pithamagan (2003) and Merku Thodarchi Malai (2018).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Kushboo & Ilayaraja's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
They worked with the same 21 people again and again — a small repertory company. Goundamani appears alongside them in 10 films — practically a third lead.
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43
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22
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22
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4Other iconic Tamil director-actor duos
Discover other partnerships with comparable filmographies and ratings
