Kamal Haasan & Madhan Bob Movies Together List — 7 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-06-05 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Kamal Haasan and Madhan Bob appeared together in 7 Tamil films between 1992 and 2000. Their highest-rated collaboration was Thevar Magan (1992 — 6.2/10). Films span Thevar Magan (1992) through Thenali (2000).
The Kamal Haasan & Madhan Bob partnership
Between 1992 and 2000, they barely worked apart — 7 films in 8 years. For 8 years, a Kamal–Madhan film arrived almost every year. From Thevar Magan (1992) to Thenali (2000).
The played out closed with Thenali in 2000. It started with Thevar Magan (1992).
The shape of the work
The 1990s account for 86% of everything they made together. The 1990s belonged to Thevar Magan; the 2000s to Thenali. Kamal Haasan acted in every film; Madhan Bob acted in all of them.
Partnership facts
- Kamal Haasan personally picked Madhan Bob for 'Thevar Magan' (1992) after seeing him in a stage play. Bob was a theatre actor with zero film experience at the time. Kamal told him: 'Just be yourself. Don't act.'
- On the sets of 'Magalir Mattum' (1994), Kamal would deliberately flub his lines in the first take to make Madhan Bob laugh. Bob's genuine, uncontrollable laughter became the take they used. Kamal called it 'free comedy insurance'.
- Madhan Bob was the only actor Kamal allowed to improvise his dialogues without prior approval. During 'Sathi Leelavathi' (1995), Bob rewrote his entire courtroom scene on set. Kamal watched, nodded, and said: 'Better than what I wrote.'
- Their double-act in 'Kaathala Kaathala' (1998) directly inspired the comedy track in the 2005 hit 'Chandramukhi' — director P. Vasu admitted he cast Vadivelu and Manobala in similar roles after watching their timing in that film.
- Madhan Bob once said in a 2016 interview: 'Kamal sir would whisper the next scene's joke to me just before the camera rolled. He wanted my reaction to be fresh. I never knew what he'd say. That's why our scenes look like we're hearing it for the first time.'
- After 'Chachi 420' (1997), Kamal gifted Madhan Bob a gold ring with the film's release date engraved inside. Bob wore it every day until his death in 2019. He told friends: 'That ring is my diploma from Kamal sir's school of comedy.'
7 films across 2 decades
The 1990s accounted for 6 films, averaging 5.7/10.
The 2000s accounted for 1 film, averaging 6.0/10.
- Thevar Magan
- Kaathala Kaathala
- Thenali
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
7 films across 8 years represents consistent collaboration.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 2 languages, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
When they first worked together, Kamal Haasan had 136 films behind them; Madhan Bob had 1.
Before Thevar Magan, Kamal Haasan had starred in 136 films, including Enakkul Oruvan (1984) and Enakkul Oruvan (1984).
After Thenali, Kamal Haasan went on to appear in 38 more films, including Anbe Sivam (2003) and Vikram (2022).
Before Thevar Magan, Madhan Bob had starred in 1 film, including Neengal Kettavai (1984).
After Thenali, Madhan Bob went on to appear in 45 more films, including Kalasal (2019) and Ethir Neechal (2013).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Kamal Haasan & Madhan Bob's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
Ilayaraja scored 3 of them. Nassar appears alongside them in 3 films — practically a third lead.
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