R. S. Manohar & R. Sundaram Movies Together List — 5 Films

The shape of the work

The 1960s account for 60% of everything they made together. The 1960s belonged to Vallavanukku Vallavan; the 1970s to CID Shankar. R. S. Manohar acted in every film; R. Sundaram directed all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Manohar was a stage actor with zero film experience when Sundaram cast him as the lead in Vallavanukku Vallavan (1965). Sundaram took a huge risk — the industry thought a theatre guy couldn't carry a mass hero role.
• Sundaram wrote every script with Manohar's physicality in mind — long, deliberate pauses before a punch, slow-burn anger. Manohar, in turn, would improvise dialogue on set, and Sundaram kept those takes in the final cut. The rhythm was built together, not dictated.
• Their 1967 film Edhirigal Jakkiradhai was one of the earliest Tamil films to use a double-role gimmick for a hero — Manohar played twin brothers. This directly inspired later double-role blockbusters like Sivaji Ganesan's Vasantha Maligai (1972).
• After Karundhel Kannayiram (1972), they never worked together again. No public fallout — Sundaram just shifted to producing, and Manohar moved into character roles. They never explained the split, and neither spoke about the other in interviews afterward.
• Sundaram once told a magazine: 'Manohar didn't need dialogue. He could hold a close-up for ten seconds and the audience would feel the whole scene.' No source name survives — it's a line that gets repeated in fan circles.