V. S. Raghavan & Jaishankar Movies Together List — 9 Films

The shape of the work

The 1960s belonged to Pattanathil Bhootham; the 1980s to Thanikattu Raja. V. S. Raghavan acted in every film; Jaishankar acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• They first met on the sets of 'Anbu Vazhi' (1968) because the director, M. A. Thirumugam, needed a strong villain to match Jaishankar's rising star. Raghavan was a stage veteran with zero film experience — Jaishankar personally vouched for him after seeing him in a play.
• In 'CID Shankar' (1970), Raghavan played the villain who keeps outsmarting Jaishankar's detective. Jaishankar later said Raghavan would deliberately slow down his dialogue delivery in fight scenes — forcing Jaishankar to react instead of just punch, making the action feel real.
• Raghavan never called Jaishankar by his name. On every set, he addressed him as 'Thambi' (younger brother). Jaishankar returned the respect by always sitting one step lower than Raghavan during breaks — a silent ritual they kept for 18 years.
• Their pairing in 'Maanavan' (1970) — where Raghavan played a strict teacher and Jaishankar a rebellious student — directly inspired the 1978 hit 'Mela Thalangal' (remade in Hindi as 'Maine Pyar Kiya'). The director of that film admitted he cast the teacher-student dynamic after watching their scenes.
• Jaishankar once told a magazine: 'Raghavan sir would finish his lines and then look at me with those eyes — I didn't have to act. I just had to be scared.' He said this in a 1987 interview with 'Kumudam'.
• In 'Thanikattu Raja' (1982), Raghavan played a blind father. He insisted on actually closing his eyes for every take — no acting. Jaishankar had to physically guide him during scenes, which created a real, unscripted tenderness that the director kept in the final cut.