Rajinikanth & Meena Movies Together List — 8 Films

The shape of the work

The 1980s belonged to Anbulla Rajinikanth; the 2020s to Annaatthe. Rajinikanth acted in every film; Meena acted in all of them.

Partnership facts

• Rajinikanth and Meena first worked together in Enkeyo Ketta Kural (1982), but the real spark came two years later. For Anbulla Rajinikanth (1984), the director wanted a fresh face opposite the superstar. Meena was just 14 and had no Tamil film experience. Rajinikanth personally vouched for her after seeing her in a Telugu film. That film became her Tamil debut.
• In Muthu (1995), Meena played the village belle who tames the arrogant prince. Rajinikanth later admitted that Meena's natural comic timing forced him to dial down his own style. He said she made him 'act less' — and that restraint is what made Muthu a blockbuster in Japan.
• Muthu (1995) was the first Indian film to gross over $1.6 million in Japan. That success directly led to a Japanese stage musical adaptation of the film in 1998, with a local cast. Rajinikanth and Meena never performed in it, but their on-screen pairing became the blueprint for the show.
• On the sets of Ejamaan (1993), Meena was just 25 and nervous about a fight sequence. Rajinikanth noticed and spent 20 minutes before the shot teaching her how to throw a punch without hurting herself. She later said he treated her like a younger sister on every film — never once raising his voice.
• Meena once said in a 2008 interview: 'Rajini sir never made me feel like a junior artist. In Veera (1994), I had to cry in a scene and couldn't get it right. He sat with me for 10 minutes, told me a story about his own mother, and I cried instantly. That's the kind of actor he is.'
• Their last film together, Kuselan (2008), was a remake of the Malayalam hit Kadha Parayumbol. But the Tamil version flopped. That failure ended their on-screen partnership for good. Meena later said she was 'heartbroken' because she thought they'd make one more film together. They never did.