Nizhalgal Ravi & Ilavarasu Movies Together List — 7 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s account for 71% of everything they made together. The 1980s belonged to Vedham Pudhithu; the 2020s to Baby & Baby. Nizhalgal Ravi acted in every film; Ilavarasu acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• They first shared screen space in Shahjahan (2001) because director R. K. Selvamani needed two actors who could play contrasting father figures to Vijay's hero — Ravi as the stern biological father, Ilavarasu as the warm adoptive one. Neither had worked with the other before, and Selvamani deliberately kept them apart on set until the climax confrontation scene to build real tension.
• In Oru Naal Oru Kanavu (2005), Ravi played a retired judge and Ilavarasu played his loyal servant. The director said Ravi set the emotional tone with his measured pauses, and Ilavarasu matched him by never overplaying the comic relief — a restraint he rarely showed with other co-stars.
• Their pairing in Cheena Thaana 001 (2007) — both playing bumbling cops — directly inspired the comedy duo track in the 2012 hit 'Kalakalappu', where the director admitted he wanted a similar 'serious face vs. nervous energy' dynamic.
• During the shoot of Unnai Charanadaindhen (2003), Ravi and Ilavarasu discovered they both collected vintage Tamil film posters. They started a small informal swap club — Ravi would bring a MGR poster from his collection, Ilavarasu would bring an Sivaji Ganesan one. They traded four posters over the course of that single film.
• Ilavarasu once said in a 2008 interview: 'Ravi anna and I never rehearsed together. We'd just look at each other's eyes and know who would speak first. That's why our scenes feel like real conversations, not acting.'