In the 80 year old history of Tamil cinema, there have been numerous blockbusters and superhits, colossal disasters and world famous movies. Besides time and again, the industry has witnessed many movies getting shelved after a grand launch ceremony or even after months of shooting.

Here's a peek into some of those movies of Tamil cinema which were launched with much fanfare and humongous expectations but were dropped due to unexpected or undisclosed reasons.

Jilla Collector:

After the successful collaboration in Ejaman, RV Udhayakumar and Superstar Rajnikanth were supposed to join hands for a movie named Jilla Collector which had a stunning viral photoshoot, but was shelved after initial shooting, due to dissatisfaction with regards to the story.

Raja Rani:

Popular action hero of the 90s, Captain Vijayakanth and Lady superstar of the 90s Vijayashanthi were supposed to pair for the first time in their career in this movie which was launched with huge expectations but was later dropped due to undisclosed reasons. The actor turned politicians never paired again in their successful careers.

Yelelo:

Director - Actor Parthiban has been known for launching many movies which were eventually shelved in course of time but Yelelo is special as it had music by AR Rahman. This was a village backdrop movie and Parthiban conducted the launch event of Yelelo in a grand set inviting a whole village and later the movie was dropped even though Rahman has composed few songs for the movie which are unreleased.

Engineer:

Based on a dam construction issue, this movie was launched with actor Arvind Swami in lead and Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit making her Tamil debut, and with music by AR Rahman. However this dream project of director AR Gandhi krishna who later directed movies like Chellame was dropped due to budget issues after few days of shooting.

Kaakhi:

This movie was a police backdrop action entertainer starring Sarathkumar, and was reportedly the remake of a Hindi blockbuster. Sarathkumar had tonsured his head and sported a new look in this movie and shot for few months but the movie was dropped due to unexpected reasons.

Rana and Jaggubhai:

Both the movies were launched with superstar Rajinikanth in the lead and KS Ravikumar directing them. While Rana was a historical which was launched with huge expectations and top directors of Kollywood attending the event and Deepika Padukone pairing with Rajni, the movie was shelved after a grand pooja due to Rajnikanth's health issues. On the other hand, Jaggubhai's paper ads with Rajnikanth posing as a terrorist with a gun was released but the movie was dropped due to conflicts of opinion in the story.

Marmayogi and Thalaivan irukindran:

Marmayogi was started by Kamal Haasan with Shriya Saran as the female lead and produced by Pyramid Saimira productions but was dropped due to budget issues and the historical never saw the light. On the other end Thalaivan irukindran was supposed to be made as a bilingual with Saif Ali Khan and Kamal Haasan in Hindi and Tamil and was dropped then. Last year however Kamal announced reviving the project with Lyca productions and AR Rahman composing music.

AC:

This movie was supposed to be the first collaboration of Simbu and director SJ Suryah and was to have the then top heroine Asin as Simbu's pair. However after photoshoot with a dashing, stylish Simbu and Asin in black, red and white costumes, the movie which was supposed to be produced by NIC arts was dropped. The movie was supposed to have Simbu and Asin in conflicting characters Arunachalam and Chitra who fall in love.

Chennaiyil oru mazhaikalam:

This movie was initially launched by Gautham Vasudev Menon before he made Ghajini with Suriya and Asin but was dropped and later he launched a movie with the same title starring Trisha and Veera of Rajathandhiram fame but again this project was dropped as well.

Ithihasam and Maha:

After the success of Citizen, Ajith and director Saravana Subbiah were supposed to join for a movie named Ithihasam with story by Sujatha but after an initial announcement on newspaper, the movie was shelved. Maha was a police movie directed by debutant Ravi Radha and co-starring Kiran Rathod which was stopped after few months of shooting as Ajith got busy with car racing and Ravi Radha debuted as Nandha Periyasamy with the movie Oru Kallooriyin Kadhai.

Doctors:

Selvaraghavan was supposed to direct this movie revolving around a doctor played by his brother Dhanush and Sonia Agarwal as the female lead and this movie was launched with huge expectations after the success of Kadhal konden and was dropped for undisclosed reasons.

Yohan Athyayam Ondru:

Yohan was supposed to be the first collaboration of Gautham Vasudev Menon and actor Vijay and was supposed to be the first part of a spy thriller series. The international project was supposed to have Vijay in a stylish look as a James bond like character named Yohan and was to have music by AR Rahman. However due to differences of opinion between Gautham Vasudev Menon and Vijay, Yohan Athyayam Ondru was shelved after some stunning first look posters were released.