Sivaji Ganesan & UshaNandhini Movies Together List — 6 Films

The shape of the work

The 1970s account for 83% of everything they made together. The 1960s belonged to Ennai Pol Oruvan; the 1970s to Gauravam. Sivaji Ganesan acted in every film; UshaNandhini acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Their first film together, Ennai Pol Oruvan (1965), was a remake of the Hindi hit 'Baat Ek Raat Ki'. Sivaji Ganesan personally chose UshaNandhini for the female lead after seeing her in a stage play — he told the director she had the 'sad eyes' the role needed.
• In Gauravam (1973), Sivaji played a blind man. UshaNandhini had to guide him through every scene without breaking character — she would subtly tap his hand to signal where the camera was. He later said she made him 'forget he was acting blind'.
• UshaNandhini was the only co-star Sivaji Ganesan allowed to call him by his real name, 'Villupuram' (his birthplace), on set. She said it started as a joke during Rajapart Rangadurai (1973) and stuck for all their films together.
• Their 1973 film Ponnoonjal was the first Tamil movie to have a full-length song sequence shot in a single take — a 6-minute duet where Sivaji and UshaNandhini danced without cuts. That scene directly inspired the 'continuous shot' trend in Tamil cinema in the late 70s.
• UshaNandhini once said in a 1980 interview: 'Sivaji sir would rehearse a scene with me 10 times before the camera rolled. He never treated me like a junior artist — he treated me like a co-star. That's why I did six films with him.'
• After their last film together in 1978 (the second Ennai Pol Oruvan), UshaNandhini quit acting entirely. Sivaji Ganesan was the only person from the industry she stayed in touch with — he visited her home every year on her birthday until his death in 2001.