Sivaji Ganesan & Thengai Srinivasan Movies Together List — 24 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-06-03 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Sivaji Ganesan and Thengai Srinivasan appeared together in 24 Tamil films between 1971 and 1987. Their highest-rated collaboration was Thirisoolam (1979 — 7.5/10). Films span Arunodhayam (1971) through Krishnan Vandhan (1987).
The Sivaji Ganesan & Thengai Srinivasan partnership
1979 was their peak — 4 films in twelve months. For 16 years, a Sivaji–Thengai film arrived almost every year. From Arunodhayam (1971) to Krishnan Vandhan (1987).
Nenjangal (1982, 7.5/10) is the underseen one in the catalogue. The unfolded closed with Krishnan Vandhan in 1987.
The shape of the work
The 1970s belonged to Thirisoolam; the 1980s to Nenjangal. Sivaji Ganesan acted in every film; Thengai Srinivasan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.
Partnership facts
- Sivaji Ganesan personally requested Thengai Srinivasan for the 1971 film 'Arunodhayam' after seeing him in a stage play. Srinivasan was a theatre actor with almost no film experience at the time.
- In 'Thirisoolam' (1979), Sivaji played a double role — one serious, one comic. Thengai Srinivasan was the only supporting actor Sivaji trusted to improvise alongside his comic character. They would riff off each other's lines mid-scene, and the director kept the camera rolling.
- On the sets of 'Naan Vazhavaippen' (1979), Sivaji Ganesan insisted that Thengai Srinivasan eat lunch with him in his vanity van every single day. This was unusual — Sivaji usually ate alone. The crew said they spent the break cracking jokes in Tamil and English.
- The success of their comic pairing in 'Vetrikku Oruvan' (1979) directly inspired director S. P. Muthuraman to cast them together again in 'Oorum Uravum' (1982). That film then launched a trend of Sivaji doing full-length comedy tracks with a sidekick, which other stars copied through the 80s.
- After their last film together 'Krishnan Vandhan' (1987), Thengai Srinivasan stopped taking new film offers for nearly a year. He told friends he couldn't find the same rhythm with any other leading man.
24 films across 2 decades
The 1970s brought 10 films together, anchored by Thirisoolam (7.5/10).
The 1980s brought 14 films together, anchored by Nenjangal (7.5/10).
- Thirisoolam
- Naan Vazhavaippen
- Nenjangal
- Padikkaatha Pannaiyar
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
24 films across 16 years represents consistent collaboration.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 1 language, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
71% of Thengai Srinivasan's screen credits are with Sivaji Ganesan. When they first worked together, Sivaji Ganesan had 89 films behind them; Thengai Srinivasan had 10.
Before Arunodhayam, Sivaji Ganesan had starred in 89 films, including Thiruvilaiyadal (1965) and Karnan (1964).
After Krishnan Vandhan, Sivaji Ganesan went on to appear in 14 more films, including Mudhal Kural (1992) and Puthiya Vaanam (1988).
Before Arunodhayam, Thengai Srinivasan had starred in 10 films, including Ethir Neechal (1968) and Penn Deivam (1970).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Sivaji Ganesan & Thengai Srinivasan's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
M. S. Viswanathan is the through-line — music on 13 of their 24 films. M. S. Viswanathan scored 13 of them. They worked with the same 17 people again and again — a small repertory company.
12
7
7
6
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
32
22
2
2
22
2
2
2
2
13
8
22