Not in recent memory that you have seen all most all super star actors stumble in one year like you have seen in 2010. But it was also a great year that kept the spirits high with a lot of debutant actors promising a buoyant future for Tamil cinema.

The early months of 2010 left all suspicious about the coming months. Karthi, Dhanush, Sarath Kumar, Ajith, Vishal and others left everybody in a helpless situation. Even hugely expected films like ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ and ‘Aasal’ shocked us.

Bur Karthi could salvage his pride with two big hits later in the year. ‘Paiyaa’ and ‘Naan Mahaan Alla’ scored in every department and made Karthi another bankable star. Dhanush could not even do that. After ‘Kutti’ his other film of the year ‘Uthamaputhiran’ too melted away.

But Dhanush is going to start the New Year with a bang as ‘Aadukalam’ is the talk of the Pongal season. It was only with ‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaya’ an established actor struck gold first. Simbu got a remarkable image change over and the subtle performance in VTV has won him commercial and critical accolades.

Jeeva and Bharath too didn’t make an impact. ‘Kacheri Aaranbam’ and ‘Thambikku Intha Ooru’ both were non-starters. But they are still in the race as some genuinely anticipated films of them are releasing in 2011. ‘Ko’, ‘Singam Puli and Vanthaan Ventraan’ for Jeeva and ‘Vaanam’ for Bharath are expected to improve their stocks. It was ‘Thillalangadi’ time for Jayam Ravi too.

We still don’t want to call Vikram a failure in ‘Raavavan’ because he has proved his mettle beyond doubt before. But Vijay was far from his caliber. Perhaps the biggest disappointments of the year were ‘Ajith’ in ‘Aasal’ and Vijay in ‘Sura’.

Giants Bharathiraja and K Balachandar who made some of the greatest actors of Tamil cinema could not do it for themselves in ‘Rettaichuzhi’. The fate of actor Sundar C’s films sent him back to direction only. Karu. Palaniappan is still figuring out why he played the hero of ‘Mandhira Punnagai’. Mysskin in spite of all controversies and disagreements did put up a good show in ‘Nandalala’.

Among the seniors Sathyaraj had three films and the actor was missing in all of them. Arjun is seriously concerned about his future after his failures in Vande Matharam and Vallakottai. Vivek turned a hero in ‘Magane En Marumagane’ in vain. Karunas lost in the second race with’ Ambasamuthiram Ambani’.

Most of the young actors were able stir the waters but could not shake it. Shaam, Nanda and Karan still want to run the race. Even we wish them to. Jai got three while Vishu and Srikanth got two chances. Shantanu, Shakthi, Adhi and others have to try hard in the coming years.

Mirchi Shiva was called the Jim Carrey of south India failed to repeat the magic of ‘Thamizh Padam’ in ‘Va’. Arya was the hero of the two most successful films, Boss Engira Baskaran and Madraspatinam, but whether the films succeeded because of him is a question we don’t want to ask. For that matter except for the final two films mentioned at the end none of the films ran only for the actor and his performance.

Before we come to a conclusion it will be fair to look at the some actors who were not the heroes. Unfortunately only a few names like Prakash Raj in Singam, Prithviraj in Raavanan, Gajini in Sindhu Samaveli and Sethu in Mynaa crop up. Such was the dominance of heroes be it small, medium, large or extra large. Otherwise the only males who withstood the heroes’ dominance were the comedians. Here too there is only Santhanam in the list. Some even said he is a partially deciding factor at the box office.

Click here to read - REWIND: The Actors of 2010 - II