M. Raja & Mohan Raja Movies Together List — 7 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s belonged to Jayam; the 2020s to Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir. M. Raja directed every film; Mohan Raja directed all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• M. Raja was a newcomer director when he cast his younger brother Mohan Raja as the lead in Jayam (2003). The film was a remake of Mohan's own Telugu debut, and the gamble paid off — it became a sleeper hit and launched both their Tamil careers together.
• On the set of Unakkum Enakkum (2006), Mohan Raja would often rewrite his own dialogues the night before shooting. M. Raja, as director, let him do it — because he knew his brother's comic timing was sharper than anything he could write. That film's banter-heavy scenes are basically Mohan's improv.
• Thani Oruvan (2015) wasn't just their biggest hit — it directly inspired the Hindi film Mardaani 2 (2019). The cat-and-mouse cop-villain structure that M. Raja and Mohan Raja built together became a template for that Bollywood sequel.
• After Thillalangadi (2010) tanked at the box office, the brothers didn't speak for nearly a year. M. Raja later admitted in an interview that the failure strained their relationship. They patched up only when Mohan came to him with the script for Thani Oruvan — and that film became their highest-rated collaboration.
• "He is the only director who can yell at me for two hours and then hug me the next minute. That's the brother dynamic." — Mohan Raja, in a 2015 interview with The Hindu, talking about working with M. Raja.
• In Santosh Subramaniam (2008), M. Raja deliberately shot Mohan Raja's emotional scenes in single takes — no cuts, no close-ups. He knew his brother would overact if given multiple takes. The restraint forced Mohan to deliver his most natural performance up to that point.