Who is heroine No. 1?

It is indeed a tough question and a tricky one to answer. Because heroines in Tamil cinema are used to lift the movie’s glamour quotient, theme-driven roles that have scope for performance are few and far between. But if we attempt to take this debate just a little beyond the usual maze of arguments, we will discover that favourites and top-notchers have been there in heroines too. Let us refresh the ratings once again with the recent list of this season’s top players!

If we�start from the time when�Simran and Jyotika took a break in favour of marriage and motherhood, Asin took over their positions. The public fell in love with her Malayalam-tinged Tamil dialogues and�lovely looks. The success of�M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi, Ghajini, Varalaaru, Pokkiri, Dasavathaaram bear a testimony to audiences’ patronage for Asin. As she camped in Bollywood for the Hindi remake of Ghajini, the spotlight shifted to�Sivaji heroine Shriya.

Soon, post-Sivaji, Shriya too became busy with her Hollywood project The Other End Of the Line and her place was swiftly taken over by glam doll Nayantara. With a sculpted figure and luring looks, Nayan just stormed the scene with a string of hits pairing with top stars starting from Aiyya, Aegan, Villu and Satyam. However, amid all these waves of change, Trisha, the smiling beauty in Kollywood, has continued to remain the audience favourite. Though she too signed up for a number of Tollywood films and shifted�base�there, her�intermediate Tamil projects�Bheemaa, Abhiyum Naanum kept her position in Kollywood intact.

In the meantime, Kalloori, a realistic film by Balaji Shakthivel, unearthed the acting potential of�model-turned-heroine Tamannaah. After Kalloori, we have been seeing Tamannaah in many big banner projects alongside many frontline heroes. Ayan, Padikkathavan comprise some of her recent hits. But the No. 1 position keeps changing. It depends on the box-office performance of the stars’ most recent films.

Soon, Shriya will be seen Vishal’s Thoranai. Asin too is working on a multi-lingual project The 19th Step alongside Kamal.�There are also many promising newcomers who have made successful debuts in the recent past. Moreover, all the speculation will tremendously change if Jyotika, the all-time heart-throb, decides to make a dashing comeback.