Karthik & Ilayaraja Movies Together List — 46 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-07-12 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Karthik and Ilayaraja appeared together in 46 Tamil films between 1981 and 2017. Their highest-rated collaboration was Alaigal Oivathillai (1981 — 7.8/10). Films span Alaigal Oivathillai (1981) through Muthuramalingam (2017).
The Karthik & Ilayaraja partnership
After 18 years apart, they came back together for Muthuramalingam (2017). They didn't share a set between 1999 and 2017. 1982 was their peak — 7 films in twelve months.
Their work runs across 3 decades of Tamil cinema. For 36 years, a Karthik–Ilayaraja film arrived almost every year.
The shape of the work
The 1980s belonged to Alaigal Oivathillai; the 2010s to Muthuramalingam. Karthik acted in every film; Ilayaraja scored all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.
46 films across 3 decades
The 1980s brought 24 films together, anchored by Alaigal Oivathillai (7.8/10).
The 1990s brought 21 films together, anchored by Nadodi Thendral (7.5/10).
The 2010s accounted for 1 film, averaging 5.8/10.
- Alaigal Oivathillai
- Nallavanuku Nallavan
- Nadodi Thendral
- Seeman
- Muthuramalingam
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
46 films across 36 years represents consistent collaboration.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 1 language, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
94% of Karthik's screen credits are with Ilayaraja.
Alaigal Oivathillai was Karthik's acting debut.
After Muthuramalingam, Karthik went on to appear in 3 more films, including Methagu 2 (2022) and Dev (2019).
Alaigal Oivathillai was Ilayaraja's acting debut.
After Muthuramalingam, Ilayaraja went on to appear in 1 more film, including Merku Thodarchi Malai (2018).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Karthik & Ilayaraja's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
Senthil appears alongside them in 9 films — practically a third lead. They worked with the same 22 people again and again — a small repertory company.
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Other iconic Tamil director-actor duos
Discover other partnerships with comparable filmographies and ratings
