The list of Kollywood’s top 10 newsmakers of the year is here

8 years ago

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Some made news with their success, others by daring to be different. Some were super-hot and others lost their cool. Here’s a look at who grabbed the headlines in Kollywood this year:

Nayanthara

You’ve got to hand it to the lady. Three back-to-back hits in the year, Thani Oruvan, Naanum Rowdy Thaan and Maya, with her playing the lead in the last one. No wonder then she’s hiked up her rates to Rs 3 crores per film, which is more than even what some of the leading heroes can demand.

Rajnikanth

He’s not Superstar for nothing and everything that Rajinikanth does makes news. First, there was all the buzz about his next film, Kabali. Now, as the year, draws to a close, Enthiran 2, has been launched, ensuring Rajini will be in the news for some months to come.

Kamalhaasan

If Rajini is making news can Kamal be far behind? The actor was prolific this year, appearing in Uttama Villain, Papanasam and Thoongavanam. The latter two won critical acclaim, but didn’t quite make waves at the box-office. So career-wise it wasn’t such a great year for the Ulaganayagan.

What did grab headlines though was his question, ‘What happened to the tax I pay?’ in the wake of the slow relief efforts after the Chennai rains. The politicians came down heavily on him and Kamal was in the midst of another controversy.

Siddharth

If the flooding in Chennai provoked Kamal to question the state authorities, Siddharth took the opportunity to show his activist side. Along with RJ Balaji, the Jigarthanda actor was on the ground in the most trying circumstances, helping with the relief efforts. He was very articulate about how the process should be handled, too. As it happened, Sid also made news when he broke up, very publicly, via a Tweet, in fact, with Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

Vijay

When it’s an Ilayathalapathy film, the hype begins long before it hits the screen. Unfortunately, this year’s Vijay release, Puli, just didn’t make the cut. The fantasy theme didn’t work for him as his masala films do. Lots of Puli memes began to do the rounds.

Ajith

The Thala ended the year on a high note with his Deepavali release, Vedhalam. Critics trashed it, but Ajith fans, who are legion, ensured the film was a blockbuster and broke records at the box-office.

Aravind Swamy

The one-time romantic hero, who makes only the occasional big screen appearance now, made a remarkable comeback in Thani Oruvan. What’s more, he played a scientist with evil intentions, one of the coolest villains of recent times, and walked away with lots of applause.

Simbu

Simbu aka STR has developed a knack for being in the news for all the wrong reasons. His films have been delayed and his career seems to be nose-diving. What he didn’t need at this point was to evoke the anger of women’s groups by singing the ‘Beep song’ in which unsavoury references to women were beeped out. The unreleased audio clip saw a lot of flak heading Simbu’s way and he’s had to apologise for his lack of judgement.

Ilayaraja

Simbu wasn’t the only one hit by the Beep Song. When a journalist asked Ilayaraja who was participating in a flood relief effort what he thought of the song, the maestro simply lashed out. The video of him losing his cool was widely viewed and there was a lot of debate on whether being the Isaignani lets him flare up in public like that.

The Kaaka Muttai boys

Kaaka Muttai was possibly the most endearing film of the year. Made by debutant M Manikandan, it told the story of two slum boys who develop a craving to eat a pizza. J.Vignesh and V. Ramesh were chosen from the slums and excelled in their roles. A truly impressive acting duo they were.