Vadivelu & Murali Movies Together List — 12 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-06-02 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Vadivelu and Murali appeared together in 12 Tamil films between 1994 and 2009. Their highest-rated collaboration was Aadhavan (2009 — 6.1/10). Films span Adharmam (1994) through Aadhavan (2009).
The Vadivelu & Murali partnership
They saved their best for last — Aadhavan (6.1/10) came 15 years in. 2002 was their peak — 4 films in twelve months. For 15 years, a Vadivelu–Murali film arrived almost every year.
From Adharmam (1994) to Aadhavan (2009). It started with Adharmam (1994).
The shape of the work
The 2000s account for 75% of everything they made together. The 1990s belonged to Adharmam; the 2000s to Aadhavan. Vadivelu acted in every film; Murali acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.
Partnership facts
- Vadivelu and Murali first shared screen space in 'Adharmam' (1994), but the pairing almost didn't happen — the director initially wanted a different comedian for the role. Murali personally insisted on Vadivelu after seeing his stage work, and Vadivelu later said that phone call changed his film career.
- In 'Kannukku Kannaga' (2000), Murali deliberately slowed down his dialogue delivery to match Vadivelu's comic timing — a rare move for a lead actor. Vadivelu later admitted that Murali's patience let him improvise freely, turning their scenes into the film's most rewatchable moments.
- Their 2002 film 'Sundhara Travels' directly inspired the travel-bus comedy template that became a mini-trend in Tamil cinema — at least three later films copied the 'broken-down bus with odd passengers' setup. Vadivelu's bus conductor character is still referenced in Tamil meme pages.
- On the sets of 'Raajjiyam' (2002), Vadivelu and Murali had a running bet: whoever flubbed a line first had to buy the entire crew lunch. Murali lost seven times in a row, and the unit still jokes that he funded half the catering budget that month.
12 films across 2 decades
The 1990s accounted for 3 films, averaging 3.3/10.
The 2000s accounted for 9 films, averaging 4.4/10.
- Adharmam
- Rathna
- Aadhavan
- Majaa
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
12 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
After Aadhavan, Vadivelu kept going for 22 more films; Murali stepped back. By the time of Adharmam, both already had careers — Vadivelu with 13 films, Murali with 39.
Before Adharmam, Vadivelu had starred in 13 films, including Kizhakku Cheemayile (1993) and Gokulam (1993).
After Aadhavan, Vadivelu went on to appear in 22 more films, including Sivalinga (2017) and Mersal (2017).
Before Adharmam, Murali had starred in 39 films, including Ninaivu Chinnam (1989) and Thanga Manasukkaran (1992).
After Aadhavan, Murali went on to appear in 2 more films, including Baana Kaathadi (2010) and Oru Oorla (2014).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Vadivelu & Murali's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
Deva scored 3 of them. Manorama appears alongside them in 3 films — practically a third lead.
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