Karthik & Chinni Jayanth Movies Together List — 6 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-06-03 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Karthik and Chinni Jayanth appeared together in 6 Tamil films between 1988 and 2017. Their highest-rated collaboration was Kizhakku Vasal (1990 — 6.3/10). Films span En Jeevan Paduthu (1988) through Muthuramalingam (2017).
The Karthik & Chinni Jayanth partnership
After 17 years apart, they came back together for Muthuramalingam (2017). They didn't share a set between 2000 and 2017. Their work runs across 4 decades of Tamil cinema.
From En Jeevan Paduthu (1988) to Muthuramalingam (2017). It started with En Jeevan Paduthu (1988).
The shape of the work
The 1980s belonged to En Jeevan Paduthu; the 2010s to Muthuramalingam. Karthik acted in every film; Chinni Jayanth acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.
Partnership facts
- Karthik was already a star when he agreed to do En Jeevan Paduthu (1988) — but he specifically asked for Chinni Jayanth as the director. He had seen Chinni's earlier work and pushed the producer to take a chance on a newcomer.
- On the sets of Idhaya Thamarai (1990), Chinni Jayanth would let Karthik improvise entire dialogue stretches. Karthik once rewrote a whole scene on the spot, and Chinni kept the camera rolling. That scene became the film's most talked-about moment.
- After Idhaya Thamarai, Karthik and Chinni Jayanth didn't speak for nearly 25 years. They had a falling out over a misunderstanding about a film that never even got made. They only reconciled in 2016, which led directly to Muthuramalingam (2017).
- Chinni Jayanth said in a 2017 interview: 'Karthik is the only hero who trusted me when I had no name. When he called me after 25 years, I didn't think twice. I said yes before he even told me the story.'
- The success of En Jeevan Paduthu directly led to Chinni Jayanth getting his next big break — directing a then-unknown actor named Vijay in Naalaiya Theerpu (1992). Without Karthik's faith in him, Vijay's early career might have looked very different.
6 films across 4 decades
The 1980s accounted for 1 film.
The 1990s accounted for 3 films, averaging 4.9/10.
The 2000s accounted for 1 film, averaging 2.7/10.
The 2010s accounted for 1 film, averaging 5.8/10.
- En Jeevan Paduthu0
- Kizhakku Vasal
- Idhaya Thamarai
- Sandhitha Velai
- Muthuramalingam
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
6 films across 29 years represents consistent collaboration.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 1 language, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
When they first worked together, Karthik had 36 films behind them; Chinni Jayanth had 6.
Before En Jeevan Paduthu, Karthik had starred in 36 films, including Nallavanuku Nallavan (1984) and Alaigal Oivathillai (1981).
After Muthuramalingam, Karthik went on to appear in 3 more films, including Methagu 2 (2022) and Dev (2019).
Before En Jeevan Paduthu, Chinni Jayanth had starred in 6 films, including Muthal Vasantham (1986) and Kai Kodukkum Kai (1984).
After Muthuramalingam, Chinni Jayanth went on to appear in 9 more films, including Boat (2024) and Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir (2023).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Karthik & Chinni Jayanth's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
Ilayaraja is the through-line — music on 4 of their 6 films. Ilayaraja scored 4 of them.
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Other iconic Tamil director-actor duos
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