Karthik & Charlie Movies Together List — 11 Films

The shape of the work

The 1990s account for 64% of everything they made together. The 1980s belonged to Varusham Padhinaaru; the 1990s to Idhaya Thamarai. Karthik acted in every film; Charlie acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Karthik and Charlie first shared screen space in 'Dharma Pathini' (1986), but the pairing that clicked was in 'Natpu' (1986) — a film where Charlie played the hero's friend, not the lead. The director of 'Natpu' originally wanted a different actor for Charlie's role, but Karthik insisted on Charlie after seeing his work in a stage play.
• In 'Varusham Padhinaaru' (1989), Charlie's comic timing was the anchor for Karthik's emotional scenes. Karthik once said in an interview that Charlie would deliberately mess up his lines during rehearsals to make him laugh, then nail the take — keeping the set loose so Karthik could cry on cue.
• Their 1992 film 'Nadodi Pattukkaran' launched the career of director R. K. Selvamani, who went on to make blockbusters like 'Captain Prabhakaran'. Selvamani has said that Karthik and Charlie's easy camaraderie in that film convinced producers to back his next project.
• Off-screen, Karthik and Charlie were close friends who vacationed together with their families. Charlie's son, actor Vikranth, has said that Karthik was a regular at their home and would play cricket with the kids between shoots.
• Charlie once said about Karthik: 'He is the only hero who never treated me like a sidekick. On set, we were equals. That's why I did 11 films with him.' — from a 1998 interview with Ananda Vikatan.