The 1980s and 1990s saw a significant shift in Tamil cinema, with the emergence of photo-com relationships. This phenomenon referred to the on-screen pairing of actors that became so popular that they began to be perceived as a real-life couple by fans. The most iconic photo-com relationships of this era include those of Rajinikanth and Sridevi, Kamal Haasan and Madhuri Dixit, and Vijay and Simran.