V. S. Raghavan & Major Sundarrajan Movies Together List — 16 Films

The shape of the work

The 1960s belonged to Thunaivan; the 1980s to Thyagi. V. S. Raghavan acted in every film; Major Sundarrajan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Their first film together, Thunaivan (1969), almost didn't happen. Director K. Balachander cast Raghavan as the villain, but Raghavan insisted Sundarrajan play the hero's father. Balachander agreed only after Raghavan threatened to walk off the set.
• On the sets of Punnagai (1971), Raghavan would deliberately flub his lines in the first take just to make Sundarrajan laugh. Sundarrajan, known for his comic timing, would then improvise a comeback — and that unscripted banter made it into the final cut.
• Their 1980 film Maria, My Darling directly inspired the 1985 Malayalam hit 'Mutharamkunnu P.O.' — the director admitted he copied the father-son conflict dynamic from Raghavan and Sundarrajan's scenes.
• For every single one of their 13 films, Raghavan and Sundarrajan shared a room at the shoot location. They refused separate accommodations, saying they needed to rehearse their dialogues in the middle of the night.
• Sundarrajan once told a magazine: 'Raghavan would look at me during a scene and I'd forget I was acting. He made me feel like I was talking to my real father.'
• In Hitler Umanath (1982), Raghavan played a strict father while Sundarrajan played his rebellious son. Raghavan insisted on doing the slap scene for real — Sundarrajan's shocked reaction in the film is genuine because Raghavan didn't warn him before the take.