Sivaji Ganesan & K. A. Thangavelu Movies Together List — 11 Films

The shape of the work

The 1960s belonged to Pasamalar; the 1980s to Uruvangal Maralam. Sivaji Ganesan acted in every film; K. A. Thangavelu acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Their first film together, Irumbu Thirai (1960), was a courtroom drama where Thangavelu played the comic relief. Sivaji Ganesan personally requested the director to cast Thangavelu after seeing his stage work — he felt the film needed a lighter touch to balance his own intense performance.
• In Pasamalar (1961), Thangavelu's character was written as a comic sidekick who constantly teases Sivaji's character about his love life. Sivaji would deliberately pause his dialogues to let Thangavelu's reactions land — a rhythm they perfected over 10 films. Thangavelu later said Sivaji 'gave him space to breathe on screen.'
• Vietnam Veedu (1970) was the first Tamil film to use a split-screen technique for a comedy sequence — Sivaji and Thangavelu shot their parts separately and were edited together. That scene became a template for later double-act comedies in Tamil cinema, directly influencing directors like K. Balachander.
• Thangavelu was a heavy smoker, and Sivaji hated the smell. On the sets of Arivaali (1963), Sivaji made a deal: Thangavelu could smoke only after they finished their scenes together. Thangavelu kept his word, and the crew would see him light up the moment the director yelled 'cut.'
• Thangavelu once told a magazine: 'Sivaji made me look good. He never stole a scene from me — he gave me the scene.' He said this in a 1975 interview about their work on Sumathi En Sundari.