Vijay & Thambi Ramaiah Movies Together List — 3 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-07-13 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Vijay and Thambi Ramaiah appeared together in 3 Tamil films between 2014 and 2017. Their highest-rated collaboration was Jilla (2014 — 5.6/10). Films span Jilla (2014) through Bairavaa (2017).
The Vijay & Thambi Ramaiah partnership
From Jilla (2014) to Bairavaa (2017). It started with Jilla (2014).
The shape of the work
Vijay acted in every film; Thambi Ramaiah acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.
Partnership facts
- Thambi Ramaiah once said in an interview: 'Vijay sir treats me like his own uncle on set. He even made sure I got a separate van in Puli because he knew I couldn't handle the heat in that heavy makeup.'
- In Jilla (2014), Thambi Ramaiah's character 'Sengalvarayan' and Vijay's 'Sakthi' had a comedy scene where Thambi Ramaiah tries to teach Vijay how to impress a girl — that scene still gets shared as a WhatsApp forward in Tamil Nadu.
- Their first film together, Jilla (2014), collected over ₹100 crore at the worldwide box office — making it the first time Thambi Ramaiah was part of a century-club hit.
- After Puli (2015) bombed hard, Thambi Ramaiah publicly backed Vijay in a press meet, saying 'I'll do any role he asks me to' — that loyalty is often credited with keeping their partnership alive for Bairavaa (2017).
- In Bairavaa (2017), Thambi Ramaiah played a loan shark who gets slapped by Vijay in a temple scene — that slap became a meme template for 'instant karma' in Tamil social media.
- Across their three films together, Thambi Ramaiah played three completely different roles: a village elder (Jilla), a comedic sidekick (Puli), and a villainous moneylender (Bairavaa) — the widest range of any supporting actor paired with Vijay in that period.
3 films across 1 decade
- Jilla
- Bairavaa
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
3 films across 3 years represents consistent collaboration.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 1 language, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
After Bairavaa, Thambi Ramaiah kept going for 42 more films; Vijay stepped back. By the time of Jilla, both already had careers — Vijay with 64 films, Thambi Ramaiah with 45.
Before Jilla, Vijay had starred in 64 films, including Thuppakki (2012) and Vetri (1984).
After Bairavaa, Vijay went on to appear in 6 more films, including Master (2020) and Leo (2023).
Before Jilla, Thambi Ramaiah had starred in 45 films, including Imsai Arasan 23m Pulikesi (2006) and Saattai (2012).
After Bairavaa, Thambi Ramaiah went on to appear in 42 more films, including Sembi (2022) and Kick (2023).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Vijay & Thambi Ramaiah's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
Aadukalam Naren is the through-line — cast on 2 of their 3 films.
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