Chennai, Dec 31 (IANS) The year 2007 has been exciting for Tamil cinema. There were blockbusters and experimental films too. The heartening fact is that the experiments worked. The year, overall, belonged to one of the biggest blockbusters of Tamil cinema, 'Sivaji The Boss'. So the film tops the list.

The best Tamil films of the year are:

1. 'Sivaji - The Boss' - Director: Shankar; Cast: Rajnikanth, Shriya. No Tamil film so far has caught the fancy of the entire national media as 'Sivaji' did. Everything about 'Sivaji' belonged to the top class. It is Rajni's biggest hit so far, making Rs.1 billion.

2. 'Paruthiveeran' - Director: Ameer; Cast: Karthi, Priya Mani. A film about rural Tamil Nadu. Hero Karthi is a new face. Heroine Priya Mani is not well known. But the film has crossed 300 days at the box office. It is the strength of the theme, treatment and performance that made 'Paruthiveeran' a huge hit.

3. 'Katrathu Thamizh' - Director: Ram; Cast: Jeeva, Anjali. Ram, an erstwhile assistant of Balu Mahendra, dared to experiment, and what an experiment it is! It is a kind of film that moviegoers have not seen in recent times. Jeeva as Prabhakar also contributed a lot to the appeal of the film.

4. 'Mozhi' - Director: Radhamohan; Cast: Prithviraj, Jyothika, Prakashraj. When Prakashraj produced this small film, he probably did not think even in his wildest dreams that it would set a benchmark in Tamil cinema. Success of Mozhi showed that people of Tamil Nadu have started patronising good cinema.

5. 'Ammuvagiya Naan' - Director: Padma Magan; Cast: Parthipan, Bharati. Another pathbreaking film of 2007. This along with Periyar was selected for the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival at Goa. 'Ammuvagiya Naan' is the sad story of a sex worker who decided to marry a writer and be a homemamker. Debutant Bharati as the prostitute and Parthipan as the writer acted superlatively.

6. 'Evano Oruvan'- Director: Nishikant Kamath: Cast: R. Madhavan, Sangeeta. It is the remake of Marathi film 'Dombivli Fast', which had won many international awards. When you see the film, you will know why Madhavan decided to produce it himself.

7. 'Billa' - Director: Vishnu Vardhan; Cast: Ajith, Nayanthara. 'Billa' is the remake of the original made in 1980. It had Rajnikanth in the lead and the film was such a huge success that he became the superstar of Tamil cinema. The new 'Billa', released on Dec 14, is a slick, technically superb film and it is doing extremely well at the box office, second only to 'Sivaji'!