This year was a year of surprises. Big budget films which were supposed to be sure-fire hits failed to make an impact and those made on shoestring budgets rocked the box office.

So here’s a list of hits that topped our list…

The Film:

A live-action/animated film directed by S S Rajamouli and starred Samantha, Sudeep and Nani in the lead roles.

The film had music by M M Keeravani, cinematography by K K Senthil Kumar, special effects supervised by Rahul Venugopal, Adel Adili and Pete Draper, and produced by Prasad V Potluri.

Pre-release:

Given the director’s record as a maker of blockbuster films with surreal scripts and extravagant visuals, the film was one of the most anticipated film by general viewers and more so by fans of the fantasy genre.

The film further created buzz once the theme was revealed, the promotional teaser and first look pictures had the expectations soaring sky high.

Post-release:

The film opened to full houses and received rave reviews. S S Rajamouli was applauded for his work and conviction, while Sudeep walked home with the rest of the accolades. Rajinikanth called Sudeep’s villain act the best he had seen.

The film proved to be a turning point in the careers of all those involved. The dubbed Malayalam and Hindi versions also did extremely well and it also became one of the all-time best earners in overseas markets.

Naan Ee was also part of the nominations from India for the coveted Oscar Award.

The Film:

A Tamil action thriller directed by A R Murugadoss and starred Vijay, Kajal Agarwal and Vidyut Jamwal in the lead roles, and Jayaram, Sathyan, Anupama Kumar, Akshara Gowda and Gautham Kurup in supporting roles.

The film had music by Harris Jayaraj, cinematography by Santosh Sivan and was produced by Kalaipuli S Thanu.

It became the first Indian film to use an Arri Alexa camera.

Pre-release

The film was caught up in a horde of controversies and law suits and hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The trailer and poster launches were delayed, with the court issuing a stay on the film.

Eventually all problems were sorted and the teaser by a Mumbai based trailer specialist became an Internet meme. It broke Neethaane En Ponvasantham and Billa’s record and received more than 1,000,000 hits on Youtube within a very short period of its release. It was also trending on social networking sites like Twitter.

The film’s director promoted it as one of the most stylish films in Vijay’s career and a definite path breaker for the actor.

Post-release:

The film opened to full houses on November 13. His fans were overwhelmed to see it and critics were relieved –Vijay was finally back on track. It received positive reviews from viewers and critics alike and became a roaring success.

Still, all was not well for Vijay. The film was condemned by some of the Islamic groups, who claimed that the film showed Muslims in a bad light. The producer and director publicly apologised and agreed to delete some of the objectionable scenes.

Vijay’s father S A Chandrasekhar also told the media that the actor was not against any particular group of people and to prove his point Vijay would play a Muslim in his next film.

The Film:

An action drama directed by A L Vijay and starred Vikram, Anushka and Jagapathi Babu in lead roles, while Amy Jackson, Santhanam, Nassar, and Saranya Ponvannan played pivotal roles.

The film had music by G V Prakash Kumar, cinematography by Nirav Shah and produced by UTV motion pictures.

Pre-release:

The film was promoted well by the actors and director. The first look posters and teaser also incited excitement amongst Vikram fans. It was also much anticipated as this was the actor-director duo’s second venture after the critically acclaimed Deiva Thirumagal.

Post Release:

The film opened to mixed reviews from critics but managed to stay on the top of the list at the Chennai box office for more than two weeks.

The film enjoyed a good run and was termed a commercial success.

The Film:

A romantic drama directed by debutant Vignesh Shivan and starred Silambarasan and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar in the lead roles.

The film had music by Dharan, cinematography by Duncan Telford, J Laxman and R Rathnavelu, and produced by Padam Kumar.

Pre-release:

The film began production in 2008 and was delayed due to a number of reasons. It finally saw the light of the day only in November this year.

The debut of actor-politician Sarathkumar’s daughter Varalaxmi Sarathkumar created a lot of buzz. The lead actors also appeared at a number of events and promoted their long delayed project.

Post-release:

The film was released along with Thuppakki and received a lot of negative reviews. Reviewers found the film high on male chauvinistic content but lauded Varalaxmi’s performance.

Despite bad reviews and being pitted against Vijay’s film, it did well at the box office and within days recovered its spend.

The Film:

A comedy written and directed by M Rajesh and starred Udayanidhi Stalin, Hansika Motwani and Santhanam in the lead roles.

The film had music by Harris Jayaraj, cinematography by Balasubramaniem and was produced by Udayanidhi Stalin.

Pre-release:

The film garnered a lot of attention as it marked the debut of DMK supremo M Karunanidhi’s grandson and the owner of Red Giant movies, Udayanidhi Stalin’s debut as an actor.

It also topped the list of the most anticipated films in 2012, given the director’s penchant for making hit comedies.

The music album by Harris Jayaraj received positive reviews.

Post-release:

Upon release, critics claimed that Rajesh had a hat-trick with this film. It was a fresh and funny laugh riot. The film had a grand opening and good theatre occupancy. Within a month of its release it was declared a blockbuster.

Following the success in Tamil, the film was dubbed and released in Telugu as Ok Ok and received a rather good response in Andhra too.

The Film:

A romantic comedy directed by debutant Balaji Mohan and starred Siddarth and Amala Paul in the lead roles, while Ravi Raghavendra and Suresh were seen in supporting roles.

The film was inspired by a short film directed by the director himself for a competition on a private television channel.

Pre-release:

The film’s unusual title evoked interest, while the teaser that was released assured that the film would be fun and breezy.

The posters that were intelligently designed to look like pages from a comic book promised something unique and off track over the ordinary love tales of today.

Post-release:

The film opened to highly positive reviews with critics praising the debutant director for the intelligent screenplay and interesting dialogues, and tagged it as a feel-good entertainer. The film was lapped up by the audience in both the languages it was released.

The film’s success helped the leading lady Amala Paul find ground in Tollywood too.

The Film:

A crime thriller directed by debutant Jeeva Shankar starring Vijay Antony, Siddharth Venugopal and Rupa Manjari in the lead roles.

The film had music by Vijay Antony, cinematography by Jeeva Shankar and produced by Vijay Antony Film Corporation.

Pre-release:

The film which was started with Siddharth Venugopal in the lead role was shelved after his film Ananda Thandavam sank at the box office. The film was resumed by the director’s friend Vijay Antony, who also replaced Siddarth in the lead role.

It was hugely publicised by the lead actor-music director-producer of the film, Vijay Antony. His debut was also much talked about which increased the expectation levels of the film.

The success of the song “Makkayala Makkayala…”, added pep to fizz.

Post-release:

The film opened up to full houses and positive reviews and the distributors decided to add 20 more shows across all major cities.

Vijay Antony’s performance came in for much praise from critics and veterans from the industry, including Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan.

Following the film’s success in Tamil, it was dubbed and released in Telugu as Nakili.

The Film:

A crime thriller directed by Balaji Sakthivel and starred fresh faces Manisha, Sri, Urmila and Mithun in the lead roles.

The film had music by R Prasanna, cinematography by R Milton and produced by Thirupathi Brothers.

Pre-release:

The film did not have any hype or hoopla. It remained one of those small films that might or might not see the light of the day.

But it was anticipated by “off-beat” cinema lovers as the director is known for his soul stirring dark dramas.

Post-release:

The film opened up to positive reviews, with critics praising Balaji Sakthivel and calling it an invigorating piece of cinema. It did very well, echoing the success of his previous hit Kaadhal, both critically and commercially.

The film is being remade in Kannada as Case No.18/9 and in Malayalam as Black butterflies.

It was one among the two movies that were nominated from Tamil Nadu as India's Oscar entry in the Best Foreign Language category.

The Film:

A thriller directed by debutant Karthik Subbaraj and starred Vijay Sethupathy and Remya Nambeesan in the lead roles.

The film had music by Santhosh Narayanan, cinematography by Gopi Amarnath and produced by C V Kumar.

Pre-release:

The film was the least anticipated though the makers did make timely promotions.

Post-release:

The film was a runaway success and recovered its budget in less than two weeks. It received highly positive reviews and was also lauded by top film personalities including Rajinikanth.

The film’s stupendous success led to the film’s rights being bought by various well known makers to be dubbed/ remade in Hindi, Telugu and Kannada. It was also being rumoured that it would be re-made in Hollywood.

It was said that the makers made more money, more than 10 times the budget, in just the remake and dubbing rights.

The Film:

A romantic comedy directed by debutant Pa Ranjith, a former associate of Venkat Prabhu and starred fresh faces Dinesh, Nandita and Aishwarya in the lead roles.

It had music by debutant Santhosh Narayan, cinematography by P K Varma and produced by C V Kumar.

Pre-release:

The film was much publicised by Venkat Prabhu and his team. The songs also created quite a buzz and the director’s attempt to popularise the term “Route Thala” worked to the film’s advantage.

Post-release:

The film opened to positive reviews and became a commercial success. Critics called it light hearted and a refreshingly realistic film.

The Film:

A comedy directed by Sundar C and starred Vimal, Shiva, Anjali, Oviya and Santhanam in the lead roles.

The film had music by Vijay Ebenezer, cinematography by UK Senthil and produced by Kushboo Sundar.

Pre-release:

The film was one of the most anticipated films as the film marked Sundar C’s comeback as a director and in the genre he was known for- comedy.

Post release:

The film received a grand opening. Though it received mixed reviews from critics, it was hugely successful at the box office.

The success of the film has initiated talks of a sequel. Kalakalappu 2 as it is touted, will feature the same cast and would be directed by Sundar C.