Shanmugarajan & Besant Ravi Movies Together List — 3 Films

The shape of the work

Shanmugarajan acted in every film; Besant Ravi acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Shanmugarajan was a first-time director when he cast Besant Ravi as the villain in Tenaliraman (2014). Ravi was already a known face in Tamil cinema, but he took a chance on a debutant because the script had a comedy track that let him play against his usual serious image.
• On the set of Eli (2015), Shanmugarajan let Besant Ravi improvise most of his dialogue. Ravi’s natural timing turned a minor supporting role into the film’s most quoted character — local audiences still call him by his Eli character name.
• During the shoot of Bairavaa (2017), Shanmugarajan and Besant Ravi had a falling out over a scheduling conflict. Ravi walked off the set for two days. They patched things up only after the producer stepped in, but they never worked together again after that film.
• Besant Ravi once said in a 2018 interview: 'Shanmugarajan was the only director who let me be funny without making me look like a clown. He trusted my instincts more than I did.'
• The success of Eli (2015) directly led to Besant Ravi being cast in a similar comedic villain role in a 2016 Vijay film — a role that became his biggest mainstream break. Shanmugarajan’s film was the proof-of-concept that got him that call.