Top 10 Tamil actors/actresses
Sundara Pandian
Top 10 Tamil actors/actresses
---------------------------------
[ This list applies only to Tamil movies, as I have not seen many movies
in other languages to make an universal list. Another thing is that
I am not any renowned critic and so this list not necessarily fits your
evaluation of Tamil actors and actresses. ]
Top 10 Tamil actors
----------------------
1. "Nadikar Thilakam" Shivaji Ganesan
2. "Kadaal Ilavarasan" Kamala Hasan
3. Sivakumar
4. Muthuraman
5. Rajinikanth
6. Karthik
7. Raghuvaran
8. Sathyaraj
9. S.S.Rajendran
10. Gemini Ganesan
[Note : I have my own reasons in placing Shivaji above Kamal's rank. Kamal
himself has acknowledged Shivaji as his inspiration . Sivakumar is
also a great actor,but he has not played versatile roles to deserve
the #2 rank. Muthuraman is a better actor than Rajinikanth and he
played a very memorable role in "Server Sundaram". Karthik ,his son,
has not shown his depth yet and so follows Rajinikanth in the list.
To my thinking, Raghuvaran is a better actor than Sathyaraj and
nowhere is this evident than in the movie "Poovizhi VaasalilE".
S.S.R. is good , but he did not impress me much like Shivaji or Kamal.
May be, I did not see his good movies. "Kadal Mannan" bags the 10th
rank, as others have advanced in acting. However, I still watch his
old movies. Omission of Vijayakanth,Mohan, Visu , Ramarajan ,etc., is
not accidental. They have to improve a lot. I will be happy if Visu
changes his drama style in his movies. ]
Top 10 actresses
------------------
1. Sridevi
2. Lakshmi
3. Amala
4. Srividhya
5. Sujatha
6. Padmini
7. Saroja devi
8. Savitri
9. M.R.Radhika
10. Aruna
[ Note: Some readers may ponder at old actresses like padmini,Savitri etc.,
getting poorer ranks,compared to Sridevi and Amala. I thought of
promoting new Tamil movies in the first place. If some fans are not
convinced, I will declare this list as a list of top 10 actresses
without any ranking. The same applies to actors' list also.
K.R.Vijaya did a good job in playing goddesses ,but a good actress
should play all kinds of roles. Amala has even acted like prostitute
in one movie,but has not lost her image. I have seen the movie "
"Pushpak" 6 times for Kamail and Amala. That is what I call as acting.
Still, Amala falls behind Lakshmi and Sridevi as they are better
actresses. Lakshmi overacts in some movies ,so she gets #2 rank.Her
performance in Jayakandhan's movies is superb and it is but natural
that she gets a better rank than Amala. I have omitted Revathi from the
list as she plays stereotype roles in her movies. ]
Top 10 comedians
---------------------
1.Nagesh
2. Chandrababu
3. Thangavelu
4. Asogan
5. Surilirajan
6. Vennira aadai murthy
7. T.S.Balaiya
8. Janagaraj
9. Charli
10. Kaundamani-Senthil
[Note: Kaundamani and Senthil shine only when they act together. So this pair
gets the 10th rank. If I can edit this article, i will place T.S.Balaiya
next to Thangavel I am sorry for the mistake . I forgot Thengai's name,when I was typing..]
Top 10 comedy actresses
-------------------------
1.Manorama
2. Satchu
3. Kovai Sarala (with much regrets)
-------------------
[ I cannot think of any other comedian actresses. What a pity!]
S.Pandian,
s...@cec1.wustl.edu
Sundara Pandian
A complete ranking of Tamil movies
--------------------------------------
[After posting the ranking of top 10 Tamil actors/actresses, I felt that
I have missed some names like Thengai Srinivasan,Sowkar Janaki etc.,
So, I revised that list and added some more rankings of other categories.
This revised list applies only to Tamil movies. I am not a renowned critic
and if you don't agree with my ranking, please send me your comments and
reasons.-S.Pandian.]
Top 10 Tamil actors
----------------------
1. "Nadikar Thilakam" Shivaji Ganesan
2. "Kadaal Ilavarasan" Kamala Hasan
3. Sivakumar
4. "Navarasa Thilakam" Muthuraman
5. "Super Star" Rajinikanth
6. Karthik
7. Raghuvaran
8. Sathyaraj
9. "Navarasa Nadikar" S.S.Rajendran
10. "James Bond" Jai Shankar
[ Shivaji is the #1 Tamil actor, as many of us agree. Kamal has not done
all Shivaji has done and he himself will not object to Shivaji's #1 rank.
M.G.R. has not done any worthy acting in his movies. Sivakumar is a great
actor but he has not played versatile roles like Kamal. Muthuraman is also
a great actor. Who could forget his performances in the K.Balachandar's
classics "Server Sundaram" and "Edhir neechal".[K.B. wrote the story and
dialogues of the former movie and directed the later movie.
Rajini can act very well but he has not yet done good roles to get a
better ranking. Karthik is promising,but he has not yet shown Muthuraman's
depth. Raghuvaran acted better than Sathyaraj in the movies they played
together like "Poovizhi vaasalile","makkal en pakkam" etc., So he precedes
Sathyaraj. I have not seen many movies of S.S.R. He acted very well in the
movies like "Pachi vilakku". Jai Shankar happens to be my relative.He once
played stereotype roles in the Modern theatres movies like "vallavanukku
vallavan" etc., But he has also acted in Balachandar's movies and played
memorable roles in the recent movies like "Oomai vizhgal","poovE poochada
vaa". Omission of actors like Vijayakanth,Mohan, Prabhu, Ramarajan etc., is
not accidental.]
Top 10 actresses
------------------
1. Sridevi
2. Lakshmi
3. Amala
4. Savitri
5. Padmini
6. Srividhya
7. Sujatha
8. Saroja devi
9. Vanishree
10. M.R.Radhika
[ Sridevi is the best actress Tamil screen has seen and it is sad that
she kissed goodbye to Tamil movies. Her performance in "Moondraam
pirai" is excellent. Lakshmi overacts sometime ,but she acted very well
in "sirai" and Jayakanthan movies. She has a vey good dialogue delivery
like Sivaji Ganesan. Amala ,on the contrary, does not need dialogues.
In "Pushpak", she conveys all feelings through her eyes. That is what I
call as acting. Yet, her voice is dubbed in other movies. So she takes
the third rank. Savitri ,no doubt, is "vasantham".['kaalangalil avaL
vasantham'] Padmini is a great dancer and played a memorable role in
K.Subbu's "Thillana MohanaambaL". Srividhya played a very memorable role
as Bhairavi in the Balachandar's classic "Aboorva RagangaL" and in one
Muthuraman's movie "kaalangalil avaL vasantham". Sujatha is a good
actress,but she overplays her roles. Omisssions of Nadhiya,Revathi,
Bhanupriya,Geetha,Rekha(Tamil) etc., are not accidental. ]
Top 10 comedians
---------------------
1. Nagesh
2. Chandrababu
3. Thangavelu
4. Thengai Srinivasan
5. Asogan
6. T.S.Balaiya
7. Surili Rajan
8. V.K.Ramaswamy
9. Visu
10. Janagaraj
[ Kaundamani and Senthil are not in the list, as others in the list deserve
better ranking than them.]
Top 10 comedy actresses
-------------------------
1. Manorama
2. Satchu
3. Kovai Sarala (with much regrets)
[ I cannot think of any other comedian actresses. What a pity!]
Top 10 Music directors
-----------------------
1. "Mellisai Mannar" M.S.Viswanadhan
2. "Isai Gnani" Ilaiyaraja
3. K.V.Mahadevan
4. V.S.Narasimhan
5. L.Vaidyanadhan
6. T.Rajendar
7. Devendran
8. Chandra Bose
9. Sankar Ganesh
10. V.Kumar
Top 10 directors
------------------
1. "Iyakkunar Thilakam" K.Balachandar[many]
2. K.Bharathiraja[Vedam Pudhithu,Nizhalkal,Pudhiya VaarpukaL..]
3. Manirathnam [Mouna Ragam,Nayagan,Anjali, Dalapathi..]
4. K.Bhagyaraja[Andha Elu Naatkal, Darling,Darling, Thooral ninnu pOtchu]
5. Sridhar[many]
6. Balu Mahendra[Moondram pirai,Moodupani,Veedu]
7. Manivannan[Nooraavadhu naal,ganam krtaar avarkale..]
8. Fazil [PoovE poochada vaa,Poovizhi vaasalilE]
9. Visu[manal kayiru,samsaram oru minsaaram]
10. A.P.Nagarajan [Thiruvilaiyaadal,Thillaana Mohanmbaal]
Top 10 Cameramen
-------------------
1. Balu Mahendra[Moondram pirai,Moodupani]
2. Ashok Kumar[Darling,Darling,Darling..Mullum malarum]
3. Nivas[Mahendran movies]
4. P.Kannan[Bharathiraja movies]
5. Loknath[Balachandar movies]
6. Babu[ Murattu kaalai,kazhugu]
7. "camera mannan" M.Karnan
8. Vijayalashmi
-----------------------[list incomplete]
S.Pandian,
s...@cec1.wustl.edu
Krishnan Seshadri
This ranking seems to be pretty reasonable although Sathyaraj could have
been placed ahead of Raghuvaran. He was really good in Vedam Pudhide. I guess
his potential hasn't been tapped since then. I haven't seen much of Karthik,
but going by his performance in Agninakshatram he is a rather decent actor.
Is Sathyaraj out of the film industry or does he not get too many offers.
What about Karthik ?
Ramesh Viswanathan
> Top 10 Tamil actors
> ----------------------
> 1. "Nadikar Thilakam" Shivaji Ganesan
> 2. "Kadaal Ilavarasan" Kamala Hasan
> 3. Sivakumar
> 4. Muthuraman
> 5. Rajinikanth
> 6. Karthik
> 7. Raghuvaran
>8. Sathyaraj
>9. S.S.Rajendran
>10. Gemini Ganesan
No flame intended, nevertheless I disagree with your order of
the top three. Although very talented S. Ganesan always bordered
on overacting and being highly melodramatic. On the other hand,
Kamal was on the other side of the spectrum where he tried too hard
to simulate reality and generally ended up making a total ass of
himself. Sivakumar on the other hand played an even keel and in
general gave a well balanced act.
I also don't agree with you slot for G. Ganesan. Although his
roles in newer films are quite without life, he has much talent
and screen presence which is apparent in all of his older movies.
I apologize for not having the ability to recall the names of the
movies to cite as examples.
--R.V.
Ramesh Viswanathan
> Top 10 Music directors
> -----------------------
> 1. "Mellisai Mannar" M.S.Viswanadhan
Excellent choice, but it is a pity you did not include Ramamoorthy.
Methinks M.S. Viswanathan by himself did not make very good music
(after the split) without the talent of Ramamoorthy.
--R.V.
Srikanth Sampath
I too think so.. Ramamurthy has to be included..
--
_______________________________________________
Aa No Bhadraaha Kratavo Yantu Vishwataha
.Let Noble thoughts come to us from all sides
- Rigveda
Ravi Dronamraju
about this song by lata...
kal ke apne, naa jaane kyon ho gaye aaj paaraye..
pyar ka sapna .....
Thanks in advance,
-Ravi
Kausik Rajgopal
|> ---------------------------------
|> [ This list applies only to Tamil movies, as I have not seen many movies
|> in other languages to make an universal list. Another thing is that
|> I am not any renowned critic and so this list not necessarily fits your
|> evaluation of Tamil actors and actresses. ]
|>
|> Top 10 Tamil actors
|> ----------------------
|> 1. "Nadikar Thilakam" Shivaji Ganesan
|> 2. "Kadaal Ilavarasan" Kamala Hasan
|> 3. Sivakumar
|> 4. Muthuraman
|> 5. Rajinikanth
|> 6. Karthik
|> 7. Raghuvaran
|> 8. Sathyaraj
|> 9. S.S.Rajendran
|> 10. Gemini Ganesan
I strongly disagree with the insinuation of Gemini Ganesan's name in an
otherwise well thought out top ten list. The other selections are passable,
some even excellent, but the ending, in my opinion, is sour. Gemini Ganesan's
career was marked by uncanny luck in landing meaty roles in films by good
directors with excellent co-stars. In most of the movies he acted, his
performance never got talked about. The movie became a hit because of a
co-star's performance, but Gemini built up a reputation. His rep as "Kaadhal
mannan" was well-deserved, for he was okay in romantic roles because of his
innocent expressions, but his rep as an actor was undeserved, for the same
expressions would become impassive in scenes of strong emotion and drama. Did
his performance in one of the greatest ever Thamizh films, Pasa Malar, get
talked about? NO. Sivaji and Savitri clearly made the movie their own. But
Gemini`s rep rose anyway because the filom was a critical hit. In most films,
he played the quintessential lover boy, and was unconvincing in his roles which
required good acting. I could suggest any number of replacements for Gemini
Ganesan as number 10 in the list. How about actor-director Visu, whose
brilliant movies and well-acted out roles have impressed critics?