Goundamani & Vijayakanth Movies Together List — 10 Films

The shape of the work

The 1980s account for 70% of everything they made together. The 1980s belonged to Nenjile Thunivirunthal; the 1990s to Sethupathi IPS. Goundamani acted in every film; Vijayakanth acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Their first film together, Nenjile Thunivirunthal (1981), was a low-budget action drama. Vijayakanth was already a rising star, but Goundamani was still a supporting comedian. The director paired them because he needed a tall, loud comic to bounce off Vijayakanth's intense silence. It worked so well that they became a go-to duo for the next decade.
• In Chinna Gounder (1992), Goundamani played the sidekick who never stopped talking, while Vijayakanth played the strong, silent village chief. The trick was timing: Goundamani would rattle off rapid-fire jokes, and Vijayakanth would just stare or give a single deadpan line. That contrast — noise vs. stillness — is what made audiences laugh.
• Their 1994 film Sethupathi IPS was one of the first Tamil movies to show a police officer using a mobile phone. That prop — a bulky handset — became a talking point. It directly inspired a wave of 'tech-savvy cop' films in the late 90s, like the director's own later projects.
• On the sets of Eetti (1985), which was a critical and commercial disaster, Goundamani and Vijayakanth reportedly had a falling out over a scene where Goundamani felt his comedy was being cut to favor the hero. They didn't speak for three days. A producer had to lock them in a room to patch things up. They worked together again the next year.
• Vijayakanth once said in a 1995 interview: 'Goundamani is the only actor who can make me laugh even when I'm angry. On the set of Periya Marudhu, I was furious about a lighting issue, and he just did one of his silly walks. I forgot why I was angry.'