Ajith Kumar & Manivannan Movies Together List — 8 Films

The shape of the work

The 1990s belonged to Thodarum; the 2000s to Anjaneya. Ajith Kumar acted in every film; Manivannan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Manivannan directed Ajith in 'Thodarum' (1999) — the film that broke Ajith's string of flops and gave him his first real critical success as a lead actor. Without that film, Ajith's career might have looked very different.
• In 'Anjaneya' (2003), Manivannan played a blind father who doesn't know his son (Ajith) is a gangster. The scene where the father touches his son's face and says 'nee nallavan dhaane?' still gets shared on Tamil social media as a tearjerker moment.
• Their first film together, 'Nesam' (1997), was Manivannan's directorial debut. He cast Ajith when Ajith was still a newcomer with just two films behind him — a gamble that paid off only later.
• Ajith once said in an interview: 'Manivannan sir gave me the confidence to try different roles. He never treated me like a star, just an actor who needed to work harder.'
• Their fourth and final film 'Anjaneya' (2003) was Manivannan's last directorial venture. After that, he shifted focus to acting full-time — so this pair's collaboration bookends a key phase of his career.
• The song 'Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven' from their 2000 film of the same name became a wedding-season staple in Tamil Nadu — couples still request it at receptions, even though the film itself tanked at the box office.