Santhanam & R. N. R. Manohar Movies Together List — 5 Films

The shape of the work

The 2010s account for 80% of everything they made together. The 2000s belonged to Maasilamani; the 2010s to Vellore Maavattam. R. N. R. Manohar director in some, actor in others. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Santhanam personally called Manohar to offer him the role of the villain in 'Ya Ya' (2013). Manohar was a stage actor with zero film experience at that point. Santhanam saw him in a small theater play and decided he had to be in the movie.
• On the set of 'Veeram' (2014), Santhanam would deliberately flub his lines to make Manohar laugh during serious scenes. Manohar had to walk off set multiple times to compose himself. The director kept those takes because the tension looked real.
• After 'Enakku Vaitha Adimaigal' (2017) flopped, Santhanam and Manohar stopped speaking for nearly two years. Manohar later admitted in an interview that he felt Santhanam blamed him for the film's failure. They patched things up only in 2020 over a phone call.
• Manohar once said: 'Santhanam gave me my first break, but he also gave me my first heartbreak. He never told me the film was bombing until the reviews came out.'
• Their pairing in 'Ya Ya' (2013) directly inspired director Rajesh to cast Santhanam opposite another newcomer villain in 'Oru Kal Oru Kannadi' (2012) — but that film released earlier. So actually, 'Ya Ya' was the one that copied the formula.