Manivannan & M. S. Bhaskar Movies Together List — 6 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s account for 83% of everything they made together. The 2000s belonged to Sivaji; the 2010s to Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA. Manivannan acted in every film; M. S. Bhaskar acted in all of them. Strictly Tamil cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Manivannan personally called M. S. Bhaskar to offer him the role in Military (2003) after seeing him in a stage play. Bhaskar later said he was nervous acting opposite a legend, but Manivannan told him, 'Just be yourself — I’ll handle the rest.'
• In Dharmapuri (2006), Manivannan played the villain and Bhaskar played his sidekick. Bhaskar improvised a stammer for his character on the first day of shoot. Manivannan loved it so much that he asked the director to rewrite their scenes together to give Bhaskar more lines with that stammer.
• On the sets of Sadhu Miranda (2008), the two would share a single cup of filter coffee every morning before the first shot. Bhaskar later revealed that Manivannan insisted on this ritual because 'coffee tastes better when you’re sharing it with a friend.'
• Their comic double-act in Naalai Namadhe (2009) was so well-received that the director, M. Sasikumar, wrote a separate spin-off scene just for them — a 12-minute stretch where they play drunk uncles at a wedding. That scene became a meme template in Tamil social media years later.
• M. S. Bhaskar once said in an interview: 'Manivannan sir never treated me like a junior artist. He’d pull me aside and say, “You’re funnier than me — take the punchline.” That’s why I gave my best in every film with him.'
• In Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA (2013), Manivannan played a corrupt politician and Bhaskar played his nervous assistant. Bhaskar deliberately underplayed every reaction so that Manivannan’s loud outbursts would hit harder. The director later said Bhaskar’s restraint was the secret to making Manivannan’s rage look real.