Vijay & Manivannan Movies Together List — 14 Films

The shape of the work

The 1990s account for 79% of everything they made together. The 1990s belonged to Maanbumigu Maanavan; the 2000s to Vaseegara. Vijay acted in every film; Manivannan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Vijay and Manivannan made 8 films together in just 7 years — that's more than one film a year on average. No other actor-director pair in Tamil cinema during the 90s matched that frequency.
• Manivannan directed Vijay in 'Nerrukku Ner' (1997) — the film that gave Vijay his first major commercial hit after a string of flops. It changed his career trajectory completely.
• In 'Priyamudan' (1998), Manivannan wrote a scene where Vijay's character says 'Naan oru thadavu sonna, nooru thadavu sonna madhiri' — that dialogue became a staple in Tamil college hostels for years.
• Manivannan once said in an interview: 'Vijay is the only actor who would call me 'sir' even after becoming a star. That respect made me want to write better scenes for him.'
• Their last film together, 'Youth' (2002), was a box office disaster. After that, Manivannan never directed Vijay again — and Vijay never worked with any director who had given him 8 films.
• In 'Kaalamellam Kaathiruppen' (1997), Manivannan cast Vijay as a blind man — a role that required him to perform without eye contact. That film's climax scene, where Vijay's character regains sight, is still shared on Tamil fan pages.