V. Gopalakrishnan & Pandari Bai Movies Together List — 4 Films

The shape of the work

The 1970s belonged to Sadhurangam; the 1990s to Avasara Police 100. V. Gopalakrishnan acted in every film; Pandari Bai acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Pandari Bai was already a major star when she agreed to play V. Gopalakrishnan's mother in Sadhurangam (1978). She was only 10 years older than him in real life, but she insisted on doing the role because she liked his script — and that film became the first of their three collaborations.
• In Ram Lakshman (1981), Gopalakrishnan played a double role — twin brothers. Pandari Bai played their mother. On set, she would rehearse each scene twice with him, once for each character, to help him switch between the two personalities. She said it was like acting with two different actors.
• After Avasara Police 100 (1990) flopped hard, Pandari Bai called Gopalakrishnan and told him, 'We should stop making films together before we ruin our friendship.' They never worked together again.
• Pandari Bai once told a magazine: 'Gopalakrishnan is the only co-star who called me 'Amma' even when the camera wasn't rolling. That's why I never said no to his films.'
• The success of Sadhurangam (1978) directly led to Gopalakrishnan getting cast in a string of family dramas. Pandari Bai's presence gave the film a stamp of quality that opened doors for him as a lead actor.