Jayalalitha & R. S. Manohar Movies Together List — 10 Films

The shape of the work

The 1960s account for 60% of everything they made together. The 1960s belonged to Ayirathil Oruvan; the 1970s to Neerum Neruppum. Jayalalitha acted in every film; R. S. Manohar acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Jayalalitha was already a huge star when she agreed to do Kaavalkaaran (1967) opposite R. S. Manohar, who was mostly known as a villain. She insisted on casting him as the hero because she believed his intense screen presence would balance her own star power.
• In Naan (1967), Manohar played a double role — one a gentle lover, the other a violent thug. Jayalalitha reportedly told the director that Manohar's switch between the two characters in the same scene made her forget her own lines. She had to reshoot three times.
• During the shoot of Thaikku Thalaimagan (1967), Jayalalitha and Manohar would rehearse their dialogues in the car on the way to the set. Manohar later said she always sat in the back seat and made him sit next to her so they could 'argue like the characters' before the camera rolled.
• Their film Neerum Neruppum (1971) was one of the first Tamil movies to feature a female-led courtroom climax. Jayalalitha's 12-minute monologue as a lawyer was written specifically because Manohar told the writer she could 'out-argue any man on set.' That scene is still studied in Tamil cinema schools.
• R. S. Manohar once said in a 1980 interview: 'Jayalalitha didn't just act with me — she directed me. She would stop mid-scene and say, 'Manohar, your left eye is doing more work than your right. Fix it.' I never got that note from anyone else.'
• After Chitra Pournami (1976), they never worked together again. Manohar later revealed that Jayalalitha stopped taking his calls after she entered politics. He said, 'She told me once: 'If I become CM, I can't have a villain as a friend.' He laughed when he said it, but they never spoke again.