Best Directors of 2011 

Tamil movie industry has some of the most creative and commercially savvy directors. 2011 is the year when the baton was passed from mass heroes to directors as audience rejected any mass masala movies that underestimated the audience intelligence. In addition to being creative, directors are expected to be a good marketer with a keen business sense. There is no point in making a meaningful movie that fail at the box office and vice-versa. So, let's look at the directors who pushed the envelope on the artistic side and who expanded the market.

Best Director - Thiagarajan Kumararaja (Aaranya Kaandam)

Thiagarajan Kumararaja made first neo-noir movie in Tamil. Some fans even call it Tamil's first pulp fiction. Aaranya Kaandam soon became a cult-classic among niche audience. People either loved it to the hilt or hated it. The movie was technically well made with excellent background score by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Due to the restricted set of target audience it was catering, the movie failed from business perspective. 

Most Popular Director - KV Anand (KO)

KV Anand has made a mark of himself with his brand of realistic commerical movie with a message. KV Anand was unfazed when many leading actors declined KO. Finally, he settled on Jiiva who fit the role to the T. KO relied on gripping screenplay, visual splendour, fantastic music and deftful direction to deliver a blockbuster. Ko was also a blockbuster in Telugu and the Hindi remake rights were sold for 1.5 Crores.

Note: Other strong contenders in this category include Venkat Prabhu for Mankatha and AL Vijay for Deivathirumagal. Deivathirumagal was the most impactful movie of 2011. Many scenes and plot of the story were taken from "I am Sam" without giving due credits. Due to such questionable ethics, Deivathirumagal had to be dropped from nomination.