Rajinikanth & Major Sundarrajan Movies Together List — 16 Films

The shape of the work

The 1970s belonged to Apoorva Raagangal; the 1980s to Billa. Rajinikanth acted in every film; Major Sundarrajan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Major Sundarrajan was already a veteran character actor when Rajinikanth was still struggling. Their first film together, Aadu Puli Attam (1977), was actually the film that gave Rajini his first real break as a lead — and Sundarrajan personally vouched for him to the director.
• In Dharma Yuddham (1979), Sundarrajan played Rajini's father — but off-screen, he was the one who taught Rajini how to modulate his dialogue delivery for emotional scenes. Rajini later said Sundarrajan would rehearse with him for hours before every shot.
• Sundarrajan was a strict disciplinarian on set — he insisted on punctuality and no smoking during shoots. Rajini, who was a heavy smoker back then, would sneak behind the sets to light up. Sundarrajan caught him once and just gave him a look. Rajini never smoked on his sets again.
• Their 1980 film Ellam Un Kairasi was the first Tamil film to feature Rajini in a full-length comedic role without any heroics. Sundarrajan, playing the comic sidekick, deliberately underplayed his part to let Rajini shine — a move that directly inspired the 'comedy hero' trend in Tamil cinema.
• Rajini once said in a 1984 interview: 'Major Sundarrajan is the only actor who made me feel like a student on set. He never raised his voice, but I was terrified of disappointing him.'
• Their last film together, Shasti Viratham (1983), almost didn't happen. Sundarrajan had a heart condition and the producers wanted to replace him. Rajini refused to shoot without him and even delayed the film by three months until Sundarrajan recovered enough to act.