Ilayaraja & Sivaji Ganesan Movies Together List — 25 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-07-12 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Ilayaraja and Sivaji Ganesan appeared together in 25 Tamil films between 1977 and 1992. Their highest-rated collaboration was Dheepam (1977 — 7.5/10). Films span Dheepam (1977) through Thevar Magan (1992).
The Ilayaraja & Sivaji Ganesan partnership
Their work runs across 3 decades of Tamil cinema. 1979 was their peak — 5 films in twelve months. For 15 years, a Ilayaraja–Sivaji film arrived almost every year.
From Dheepam (1977) to Thevar Magan (1992). Nenjangal (1982, 7.5/10) is the underseen one in the catalogue.
The shape of the work
The 1980s account for 64% of everything they made together. The 1970s belonged to Dheepam; the 1990s to Thevar Magan. Ilayaraja scored every film; Sivaji Ganesan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.
25 films across 3 decades
The 1970s brought 7 films together, anchored by Dheepam (7.5/10).
The 1980s brought 16 films together, anchored by Nenjangal (7.5/10).
The 1990s accounted for 2 films, averaging 6.2/10.
- Dheepam
- Naan Vazhavaippen
- Nenjangal
- Padikkaatha Pannaiyar
- Thevar Magan
- Naangal0
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
25 films across 15 years represents consistent collaboration.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 1 language, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
When they first worked together, Ilayaraja had 0 films behind them; Sivaji Ganesan had 134. After Thevar Magan, Ilayaraja kept going for 182 more films; Sivaji Ganesan stepped back.
Dheepam was Ilayaraja's acting debut.
After Thevar Magan, Ilayaraja went on to appear in 182 more films, including Pithamagan (2003) and Merku Thodarchi Malai (2018).
Before Dheepam, Sivaji Ganesan had starred in 134 films, including Thiruvilaiyadal (1965) and Karnan (1964).
After Thevar Magan, Sivaji Ganesan went on to appear in 7 more films, including Once More (1997) and En Aasai Rasave (1998).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Ilayaraja & Sivaji Ganesan's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
They worked with the same 13 people again and again — a small repertory company. Thengai Srinivasan appears alongside them in 8 films — practically a third lead.
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2Other iconic Tamil director-actor duos
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IlayarajaSenthamaraiIlayarajaMajor Sundarrajan