Manivannan & Mohan Movies Together List — 10 Films
Complete Movies List & Collaboration History
Last updated: 2026-07-12 · Data sources: Wikipedia, TMDB
Manivannan and Mohan appeared together in 10 Tamil films between 1982 and 2022. Their highest-rated collaboration was Gopurangal Saivathillai (1982 — 7.5/10). Films span Gopurangal Saivathillai (1982) through Jothi (2022).
The Manivannan & Mohan partnership
After 35 years apart, they came back together for Jothi (2022). They didn't share a set between 1987 and 2022. 1984 was their peak — 5 films in twelve months.
From Gopurangal Saivathillai (1982) to Jothi (2022). Nooravathu Naal (1984, 7.5/10) is the underseen one in the catalogue.
The shape of the work
The 1980s account for 90% of everything they made together. The 1980s belonged to Gopurangal Saivathillai; the 2020s to Jothi. Manivannan directed every film; Mohan acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.
Partnership facts
- Manivannan cast Mohan in 'Gopurangal Saivathillai' (1982) after seeing him in a small role in 'Nenjil Oru Raagam'. Mohan was so nervous on the first day that Manivannan had to sit beside him and feed him his lines line by line for the first two shots.
- Manivannan deliberately wrote Mohan's characters as emotionally fragile men who cry openly — a rarity in Tamil cinema then. In 'Ilamai Kalangal' (1983), Mohan's breakdown scene was shot in one take because Manivannan told him to 'just think of the worst thing that ever happened to you' right before the camera rolled.
- Their 1984 film 'Nooravathu Naal' directly inspired the 2016 Tamil thriller 'Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru'. Director Karthick Naren has said he watched 'Nooravathu Naal' as a kid and wanted to make a film with that same locked-room mystery structure.
- Manivannan and Mohan had a standing bet on every film: if the film ran for 100 days, Mohan had to buy Manivannan a bottle of Old Monk rum. If it flopped, Manivannan paid. Mohan lost only once — on '24 Mani Neram' (1984).
- Mohan once said in a 2017 interview: 'Manivannan was the only director who could make me cry on cue. He'd just look at me from behind the camera and I'd start tearing up. I don't know how he did it.'
- On the set of 'Anbin Mugavari' (1985), Manivannan would deliberately not give Mohan the full script for the day's climax scene. He wanted Mohan's reaction to be genuinely surprised. The scene where Mohan discovers the truth about his mother — that raw shock — is Mohan hearing the dialogue for the first time.
10 films across 2 decades
The 1980s brought 9 films together, anchored by Gopurangal Saivathillai (7.5/10).
The 2020s accounted for 1 film, averaging 5.9/10.
- Gopurangal Saivathillai
- Ilamai Kalangal
- Jothi
The partnership in numbers
Partnership Pattern
10 films across 40 years represents consistent collaboration.
Language Distribution
Linguistic diversity: 1 language, with Tamil being their primary medium.
Where each was in their career
83% of Manivannan's screen credits are with Mohan.
Before Gopurangal Saivathillai, Manivannan had directed 1 film, including Nizhalgal (1980).
After Jothi, Manivannan went on to direct 1 more film, including Madha Gaja Raja (2025).
Before Gopurangal Saivathillai, Mohan had starred in 4 films, including Nenjathai Killadhe (1980) and Moodupani (1980).
Collaboration Journey
A chronological view of Manivannan & Mohan's professional partnership
Actors and musicians who worked on most of their films
Ilayaraja is the through-line — music on 10 of their 10 films. Ilayaraja scored 10 of them. Nalini appears alongside them in 4 films — practically a third lead.
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