This is a question that is popular among most fans. "When the books are tallied for the year, where does my hero stand?" is what most fans ask.

So how do they all stack up? And who was the real number one hero in Tollywood for 2004?

There are no easy answers. But just going by what the trade says, it has to be Nagarjuna as his Mass is on the way to becoming a big grosser while his previous release Nenunnanu, though not exactly a hit, was not a failure either.

In the event, the cup, as it were, should go to Nags.

His competition had a mixed year. Chiru's Anji's bombed while Shankardada got good reviews but still couldn't make the money that would have made its producers smile.

For Venky, it was a 50-50 year. Malliswari's super success was offset by Gharshana's failure. A pity really considering the fact that the latter film was a nicely made one.

Balakrishna couldn't have had a worse year --- his Vijayendra Varma was poor, and his personal problems also added to his woes.

Mahesh Babu salvaged some pride through Arjun. But his Nani was an albatross around his neck. Nitin also stayed in the hunt with Sye but Sri Anjaneyam was a failure. NTR Jr also was not in his elements. Andhrawala was a dud. Sambha some say was a hit. And some don't. Jagapathy Babu had a decent run through Pedababu. Ravi Teja's was a mixed bag. Chanti and Naa Autograph failed to click while Venky did. Sivaji came into his own through Ammayi Bagundi and Mr and Mrs Sailaja Krishnamurthi

Pawan Kalyan was nowhere in 2004 --- Gudumba was a major blow.

Youngsters Tarun, Uday Kiran, Srikanth, Venu Naresh, Allari Rajesh, Manoj Kumar, Vishnu all had miserable years.

Veterans Mohan Babu, Rajendra Prasad and Rajasekhar all would like to forget 2004 in a hurry.

But middle-level actors like Sumanth, Gopinath emerged out of the shadows.