S. P. Muthuraman & Jaishankar Movies Together List — 7 Films

The shape of the work

The 1970s account for 71% of everything they made together. The 1970s belonged to Dheiva Kuzhandhaigal; the 1980s to Murattu Kaalai. S. P. Muthuraman directed every film; Jaishankar acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Muthuraman cast Jaishankar in 'Dheiva Kuzhandhaigal' (1973) after seeing his work in a stage play — but the actor almost said no because he thought the director was too young and inexperienced. Muthuraman convinced him over a single cup of coffee.
• On the sets of 'Yarukku Maappillai Yaro' (1975), Muthuraman realized Jaishankar was terrible at comedy timing. So he started shooting Jaishankar's reaction shots separately — letting the comedian do the setup, then cutting to Jaishankar's deadpan face. That became the joke.
• The success of 'Murattu Kaalai' (1980) directly led to Rajinikanth being cast in Muthuraman's next film. Jaishankar recommended Rajini after seeing his work ethic on set — and Muthuraman went on to direct 25 films with Rajinikanth.
• Jaishankar never called Muthuraman by his name. He always addressed him as 'Saar' — even after 10 films together. Muthuraman later said it made him feel like a schoolboy every single time.