Nithya Menen & Kovai Sarala Movies Together List — 5 Films

The shape of the work

Nithya Menen acted in every film; Kovai Sarala acted in all of them. Mostly Tamil, with 2 films in Telugu.

Partnership facts

• Kovai Sarala was the one who pushed for Nithya Menen to be cast in 'Malini 22 Vijayawada' (2013). The director wanted a more established face, but Sarala insisted Nithya had the right mix of grit and vulnerability for the lead role.
• In 'Kanchana 2' (2015), Sarala played the comic relief while Nithya played the straight woman. But on set, Nithya would deliberately flub her lines to make Sarala improvise — and those unscripted reactions made it into the final cut.
• Their pairing in 'Mersal' (2017) directly led to the trend of casting two strong female comedians in a single mainstream hero film. Before this, Tamil masala movies rarely gave two women comic roles with equal screen time.
• During the disastrous shoot of 'Malini 22 Palayamkottai' (2014), Nithya and Sarala shared a room in a rundown lodge. They spent nights rewriting each other's dialogues because the script was so bad — and they still laugh about it today.
• Kovai Sarala once said in an interview: 'Nithya is the only co-star who made me forget I'm a comedian. She treated every scene like we were both leading ladies.'
• In 'Ghatana' (2016), Nithya insisted on doing a slapstick sequence with Sarala instead of a dramatic one. She told the director: 'If I'm with Sarala akka, let people laugh. We'll cry in the next scene.' That scene became the film's only memorable moment.