Karunakaran & Bagavathi Perumal Movies Together List — 6 Films

The shape of the work

The 2010s account for 83% of everything they made together. The 2010s belonged to Indru Netru Naalai; the 2020s to Tughlaq Durbar. Karunakaran acted in every film; Bagavathi Perumal acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Karunakaran was a struggling assistant director when Bagavathi Perumal cast him as the lead in Jigarthanda (2014). Perumal saw him in a small role and decided to build a whole character around his face.
• On the set of Indru Netru Naalai (2015), Bagavathi Perumal would write dialogue in the morning and Karunakaran would rewrite it in his own slang by lunch. The final script was a mix of both their voices.
• Their collaboration on Iraivi (2016) directly launched the career of actor Vijay Sethupathi's younger brother, who played a small role in the film. Perumal insisted on casting him after Karunakaran recommended him.
• During the making of Shaitan Ka Bachcha (2017), Karunakaran and Perumal had a massive creative fight and didn't speak for three weeks. They patched up only after a mutual friend locked them in a room together.
• Bagavathi Perumal once said: 'Karunakaran is the only actor who will argue with me about a scene until 3 AM, then call me at 6 AM with a better idea. I hate him for it, but I need it.'
• In Seethakathi (2018), Perumal deliberately gave Karunakaran no rehearsal time for the climax monologue. He wanted the exhaustion and frustration to be real on camera. Karunakaran nailed it in one take.