Ilayaraja & Jaishankar Movies Together List — 35 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-06-04 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Ilayaraja and Jaishankar appeared together in 35 Tamil films between 1977 and 1998. Their highest-rated collaboration was Garjanai (1981 — 7.5/10). Films span Gaayathri (1977) through Dharma (1998).
The Ilayaraja & Jaishankar partnership
Their work runs across 3 decades of Tamil cinema. 1984 was their peak — 6 films in twelve months. For 21 years, a Ilayaraja–Jaishankar film arrived almost every year.
From Gaayathri (1977) to Dharma (1998). The ran closed with Dharma in 1998.
The shape of the work
The 1980s account for 69% of everything they made together. The 1970s belonged to Gaayathri; the 1990s to Priyanka. Ilayaraja scored every film; Jaishankar acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.
35 films across 3 decades
The 1970s accounted for 6 films.
The 1980s brought 24 films together, anchored by Garjanai (7.5/10).
The 1990s accounted for 5 films, averaging 5.6/10.
- Gaayathri0
- Chakkapodu Podu Raja0
- Garjanai
- Murattu Kaalai
- Priyanka
- Thalapathi
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
35 films across 21 years represents consistent collaboration.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 1 language, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
35% of Ilayaraja's screen credits are with Jaishankar. When they first worked together, Ilayaraja had 0 films behind them; Jaishankar had 123. After Dharma, Ilayaraja kept going for 66 more films; Jaishankar stepped back.
Gaayathri was Ilayaraja's acting debut.
After Dharma, Ilayaraja went on to appear in 66 more films, including Pithamagan (2003) and Merku Thodarchi Malai (2018).
Before Gaayathri, Jaishankar had starred in 123 films, including Apoorva Raagangal (1975) and Pattanathil Bhootham (1967).
After Dharma, Jaishankar went on to appear in 1 more film, including Chinna Raja (1999).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Ilayaraja & Jaishankar's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
They worked with the same 24 people again and again — a small repertory company. Rajinikanth appears alongside them in 11 films — practically a third lead.
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Other iconic Tamil director-actor duos
Discover other partnerships with comparable filmographies and ratings
