Unlike actors, actresses do not get meaty roles at all in Tamil cinema these days. But the industry still witnessed a race to the top spot between Sneha and Trisha Krishnan.

Both had two major films. Though Trisha starred in the biggest hit of 2004, and one of the biggest hits in the history of Tamil cinema, "Gilli", it is Sneha who won the race.

Sneha starred in the maximum number of films in 2004 as the heroine: five.

The second big hit of 2004 was Cheran's "Autograph". Though Sneha was one of three heroines in the film, she had the meatiest role. Her white churidar set with a tie-and-dye dupatta became a rage in Tamil Nadu.

Sneha was delightful as the heroine of "Vasool Raja M.B.B.S." opposite Kamal Haasan, which also was a big hit. She was the only actress to get a heroine-oriented film, "Athu". The film did not succeed at the box office though.

Sneha also did "Bose", which did average business at the box office, opposite Srikkant.

Trisha Krishnan starred opposite Vijay in "Gilli". She also had another major film, "Aayutha Ezhuthu", by Mani Ratnam. Though she was one of the three heroines in the film, Trisha can boast of the fact that hers was the most seen face on television in 2004.

Meera Jasmine had only Mani Ratnam's "Aayutha Ezhuthu" but she was simply spectacular in the film. The year 2004 was a special year for Meera as she won the National Award for the Malayalam film "Padam Onnu Oru Vilaapam".

Gopika was the Malayali girl in Cheran's "Autograph". Though Sneha had a more attractive role, Gopika was noticed, and she has become one of the most sought-after heroines in the Tamil film industry now.

Another Malayali actress to be noticed was Navya Nair. She was the heroine of "Azhagiya Theeye", which confounded the nay-saying pundits by doing above average business. This simple film produced by Prakash Raj benefited a lot from word-of-mouth publicity.