Top Actors of 2011

Over many years, the market of Tamil movies have been expanded by the mass heroes. If we ranked the top actors only based on performance, it would be a big injustice. Here is our list of top actors based on critic choice and also based on 'mass' popularity.

Best Actor (Critic)

Dhanush stole the show with realistic acting in Aadukalam and Mayakkam Enna -- roles that only a few actors can imagine pulling it off. Dhanush had his share of duds in the form of Mappillai, Venghai and Seedan. With Kolaveri giving him international popularity and confidence, we will have the opportunity to see the strong emergence of multi-talented Dhanush -- the actor, the singer, the lyricist, the director and the music director. Other notable mentions are Vikram in Deivathirumagal, Vishal in Avan Ivan, Jai in Engeyum Eppodhum and Appukutty in Azhagarsamyin Kudhirai. 

Most Popular Actor

There were only 5 leading heroes whose career graph looked better by the end of 2011 compared to where it was at the beginning of the year -- Ajith, Vijay, Surya, Jiiva and Karthi. Rest of the heroes either had a flat year or saw a nose-dive in their market value. 

Among the top five, Ajith's career shot up the most with a great comeback in Mankatha. He pretty much carried the entire movie with loads of style and villainy. Vijay turned the corner this year with above average hits from Kaavalan and Velayutham. But, Vijay is entering 2012 very strong due to excellent choice of directors with emphasis on script and leading technicians. Suriya had a somewhat mixed bag year. His 7aum Arivu which was expected to move him to the next orbit failed to do so. Jiiva was doing experimental movies when the industry was hailing mass movies. But, he switched to the mass masala movies when the audience were expecting the heroes to do meaningful commercial movies. After KO, he seems to have found the right wavelength. He has a strong year ahead. Karthi delivered a superhit in Siruthai and he was largely unseen during rest of 2011 as he wraps up his Sakuni.