Few actors in Indian cinema can play a cop, a gangster, a grieving schoolteacher and a trans mother within the same five-year stretch and make all four feel like the same honest, slightly weary human. Vijay Sethupathi can. That’s why Tamil audiences crowned him Makkal Selvan — the people’s treasure — and why the Vijay Sethupathi best movies to watch list has become a genuine entry point into modern Kollywood for curious outsiders. Below are ten films that show his range at full stretch, plus a quick guide to streaming them.
Why Vijay Sethupathi became the Makkal Selvan of Tamil cinema
He didn’t arrive as a star. He drifted in as an assistant director, took background roles for the best part of a decade, and only broke through in 2012 with Karthik Subbaraj’s Pizza. What audiences recognised almost immediately was his refusal to perform heroism. His characters chew paan, slouch, mumble, lose fights, and look like someone you might actually know.
That lived-in quality is the whole trick. Across romance, gangster drama, pitch-black comedy and anti-hero roles, he keeps the texture of a real person on screen. Critics love him for the craft. Fans love him because he never looks down at them. The ten films below — spanning Tamil, Telugu and Hindi — are the best way to see why.
Vikram Vedha (2017) — the gangster who flipped the script
Pushkar-Gayathri’s Vikram Vedha reimagines the old Vikram-Betaal folk tale as a cop-versus-criminal chess match. R Madhavan plays the police officer. Sethupathi plays Vedha, the gangster who keeps walking into the station of his own accord to tell riddling stories. Every story shifts the moral ground beneath Vikram’s feet.
It was a critical darling and a sleeper hit, later remade in Hindi with Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan. The Tamil original still outclasses the remake, mainly because Sethupathi plays Vedha as curious rather than menacing. Runtime: 147 minutes. If you’re new to his work, start here.
96 (2018) — the quiet heartbreak that broke the internet
C Prem Kumar’s 96 reunites two school sweethearts, Ram and Janu, for one night at a class reunion. Sethupathi and Trisha play it so still that entire scenes pass with nothing but a glance and Govind Vasantha’s score doing the work. Kaathalae Kaathalae became a WhatsApp status for a whole generation.
The film won multiple Filmfare South awards and was remade as Jaanu in Telugu and in Kannada. Runtime: 158 minutes. Available in Tamil with subtitles in most regions.
Which Vijay Sethupathi film should a first-time viewer watch?
Start with 96. It needs no cultural homework, no genre literacy, no familiarity with Tamil cinema’s masala conventions. A reunion between two old classmates is a universal premise, and Sethupathi’s restraint translates across languages better than almost any other Indian performance of the last decade. Follow it with Vikram Vedha for his crime-drama range, then Super Deluxe for his experimental side.
Super Deluxe, Master and more essential Vijay Sethupathi best movies to watch
Five films, five very different Sethupathis:
- Super Deluxe (2019) — Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s four-strand anthology. His turn as Shilpa, a trans woman returning home to her son, is one of the bravest performances in recent Indian cinema.
- Master (2021) — the Bhavani villain opposite Thalapathy Vijay. He makes Bhavani oddly magnetic rather than cartoonish.
- Soodhu Kavvum (2013) — Nalan Kumarasamy’s dark comedy about a bungling kidnapping gang. The film that cemented his cult following.
- Jagame Thandhiram (2021) — Karthik Subbaraj’s Netflix gangster drama shot in London. A rollicking, violent, politically pointed piece.
- Petta (2019) — his menacing Jithu opposite Rajinikanth. He goes head-to-head with Superstar and holds his ground, which is not a small sentence to write.
Quick tip — if you’re binge-watching, break up Super Deluxe across two sittings. It’s dense, non-linear, and far more rewarding on a second pass.
The underrated picks worth your weekend
Not every great Sethupathi film cracked the pan-Indian conversation. These four deserve more attention than they got outside Tamil Nadu:
- Pizza (2012) — the low-budget horror that launched his career. Still genuinely frightening.
- Iraivi (2016) — Karthik Subbaraj’s layered drama about the women orbiting selfish men. Sethupathi plays Michael with real self-loathing.
- Aandavan Kattalai (2016) — a quietly brilliant comedy about a man trying to forge a passport. Social commentary dressed as farce.
- Oh My Kadavule (2020) — his cameo-sized role as God steals every scene he appears in.
Fans of character-first Hindi performers who enjoy actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui or Manoj Bajpayee will find Sethupathi’s underrated work hits the same nerve — the Nawazuddin Siddiqui best web series and movies and the Manoj Bajpayee movies and web series list are useful companion rabbit holes once you’ve worked through this one.
Hindi crossovers: Farzi, Mumbaikar and Jawan
Sethupathi’s pan-India phase began in earnest in 2023. In Raj & DK’s Farzi on Prime Video, he plays Michael IPS, the task-force officer chasing Shahid Kapoor’s counterfeiter. The show hit over 32 million viewers in its opening weeks, per IMDb, and Michael became the breakout character.
Then came Jawan, Atlee’s blockbuster opposite Shah Rukh Khan. His villain, Kaalie Gaikwad, is unusually textured for a mass-market Bollywood antagonist — vicious, patient, almost philosophical. Mumbaikar, released on JioCinema the same year, is minor by comparison but worth the sitting. Together, the three projects marked the exact moment he crossed from Kollywood favourite to pan-Indian star.
Is Vijay Sethupathi the next big crossover star?
He already is, by most measurable standards. Three Hindi releases in a single year, a Netflix lead role, a Shah Rukh Khan villain turn, and the Hindi Vikram Vedha remake all landing within eighteen months is a crossover resume most Tamil actors wait a career for. Expect more Hindi lead roles, a Telugu franchise or two, and almost certainly a streaming series with an international co-production attached.
Where to stream Vijay Sethupathi best movies to watch on VividTV
VividTV’s on-demand library carries a rotating stack of his Tamil and Hindi work, plus 24/7 access to Tamil channels like Sun TV, KTV and Kalaignar for the TV premieres and re-runs. The full movies catalogue is browsable by language, actor and genre, and the series hub covers Farzi and other crossover shows. No sign-up, no subscription, no credit card. Opens in any browser on laptop, phone, tablet or smart TV, and installs as a PWA if you want an app-like shortcut on your home screen.
How much does it cost to watch on VividTV?
Nothing. VividTV is a free, browser-based on-demand catalogue — no account, no subscription tier, no credit card at checkout because there is no checkout. The service funds itself through unobtrusive advertising, which means you can start a film in thirty seconds flat. It works worldwide too, so diaspora viewers in the UK, US, Canada, Australia or the UAE don’t need a VPN to watch Tamil cinema at home.
| Watch order | Film | Mood |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 96 | Melancholy, slow-burn romance |
| 2 | Vikram Vedha | Twisty crime drama |
| 3 | Super Deluxe | Experimental, challenging |
Three films, roughly seven hours, and you’ll have a working theory of why Tamil audiences call him the people’s star.
His films age well because they’re built from character, not spectacle — the thing that lasts when every other trend has moved on. Queue up the marathon, grab a plate of something greasy, and Start Watching Free on VividTV tonight.
