R. S. Manohar & S. A. Ashokan Movies Together List — 4 Films

The shape of the work

The 1960s account for 75% of everything they made together. The 1960s belonged to Naan Aanaiyittal; the 1970s to Deivam. R. S. Manohar acted in every film; S. A. Ashokan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• They first shared screen space in Naan Aanaiyittal (1966) because director M. A. Thirumugam needed a villain who could match Manohar's physicality. Ashokan was a bodybuilder-turned-actor, and Manohar was a former wrestler. The director literally cast them as on-screen rivals because they were the only two actors who could throw each other around without stunt doubles.
• In Uyirmel Asai (1967), Manohar and Ashokan developed a silent signal system for fight scenes. Manohar would tap his own chest twice before a punch — that meant 'pull the hit, I'll sell it.' Ashokan would nod once if he was ready. They never missed a beat, and the fight choreographer later said they worked faster than any other pair he'd seen.
• Their third film together, Nam Naadu (1969), directly inspired the 'double villain' trend in Tamil cinema. Before this, most films had one main antagonist. But Manohar and Ashokan played two separate villains who kept betraying each other. Producers started demanding 'two strong villains' in every masala film for the next five years because audiences loved watching these two scheme against each other.
• Off-screen, Manohar and Ashokan were close friends who trained together at the same gym in Chennai. Every morning before a shoot, they'd do a 30-minute wrestling warm-up — not for the film, just because they enjoyed it. Ashokan later said that ritual kept them from actually hurting each other during fight scenes.
• In Deivam (1972), their final film together, Manohar and Ashokan swapped their usual roles. Manohar played the more cunning, silent villain while Ashokan played the loud, brutish one. They did it because they were bored of being typecast. The director let them switch, and the scene where Ashokan's character begs Manohar's for mercy is the one Tamil audiences still quote.