M. G. Ramachandran filmography

[4][5] He followed it with a string of minor appearances and supporting roles in many films, notably Ashok Kumar (1941), where he played the general of emperor Ashoka's army,[6] and as a captain in Dungan's Meera (1945).

[2][23][24] According to Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen in the book Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, the success of Ramachandran's 1961 film Thirudathe, marked a beginning of transition to roles that had "a contemporary setting".

[2] The romantic comedy Anbe Vaa (1966), where Ramachandran played an industrialist and was his only film under AVM Productions, is considered an antithesis of the roles he was doing during this period and was also commercially successful.

[31][35] Ramachandran's portrayal of twins, a club dancer and a criminal, who are separated as children in Kudiyirundha Koyil (1968) garnered him the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.

[31][36] In 1969, he appeared as a prince who brings down a tyrant who usurps his throne and mistreats his people in K. Shankar's Adimai Penn, and as a government clerk who masquerades as a billionaire to defeat the corrupt trio of a doctor, a builder and a merchant in Nam Naadu.

[2] He then directed and produced the science fiction film Ulagam Sutrum Valiban (1973) where he also starred in dual roles as brothers, a scientist and a CBI officer.

[2][40] Ramachandran retired from filmmaking in 1978 to take up his duties as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu; his last venture, entitled Madhuraiyai Meetta Sundharapandiyan, was a commercial failure.