The Highest-Grossing Tamil Films of All Time, and Where to Stream Each One in India

Shankar's sequel to Enthiran (2010) brought back Rajinikanth as the scientist Vaseegaran and his robot Chitti, against a villain played by Akshay Kumar, in his first Tamil film. It was shot in 3D and released on 29 November 2018. Eight years on, no Tamil film has passed it.

Nelson Dilipkumar's 2023 action film cast Rajinikanth as a retired jailer drawn back into violence to protect his family. Mohanlal and Shiva Rajkumar have cameos, and it became Rajinikanth's biggest hit since 2.0. Sun Pictures produced it.

Lokesh Kanagaraj's 2023 film stars Vijay as a café owner in Himachal Pradesh whose violent past catches up with him, and it ties into the Lokesh Cinematic Universe begun by Kaithi and Vikram. Sanjay Dutt and Arjun Sarja play the antagonists. It is Vijay's highest-grossing film.

Lokesh Kanagaraj's first film with Rajinikanth, released in August 2025, casts him as a man who infiltrates a gang after a close friend dies in suspicious circumstances, with Nagarjuna, Upendra and Soubin Shahir. Its estimates span more than ₹150 crore, the widest range on this list, so it sits anywhere between second and fourth depending on the source.

Mani Ratnam had tried for decades to film Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1950s historical novel about the Chola dynasty, and finally made it in two parts. The first, released in September 2022, has Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karthi, Jayam Ravi and Trisha, with music by A.R. Rahman.

Venkat Prabhu's 2024 spy thriller casts Vijay as a former anti-terror squad officer pulled back for one more mission that collides with his past, and uses de-ageing to put a younger version of him on screen. Prashanth and Prabhu Deva co-star.

The film that turned Lokesh Kanagaraj's Kaithi into a shared universe. Kamal Haasan plays a former black-ops agent, against Vijay Sethupathi's drug lord, with Fahadh Faasil, and Suriya's brief turn as Rolex at the end set up the films that followed. Released in June 2022, it was Kamal Haasan's biggest hit, produced by his own Raaj Kamal Films.

The second half of Mani Ratnam's Chola saga, released in April 2023, completes the novel's story with the same cast. It earned less than Part I but still sits inside the top ten.

Rajkumar Periasamy's biopic of Major Mukund Varadarajan, killed in a counter-terrorism operation in Kashmir's Shopian district in 2014, stars Sivakarthikeyan as Mukund and Sai Pallavi as his wife, Indhu. Released for Diwali 2024 and produced by Kamal Haasan's Raaj Kamal Films, it is the biggest hit of Sivakarthikeyan's career.

H. Vinoth's film was billed as Vijay's last before he moved into full-time politics with his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. He plays a former police officer pulled back into a conflict from his past, with Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol and Mamitha Baiju. On these estimates it is the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2026 so far.

The oldest film on the list. Pa. Ranjith's 2016 gangster drama casts Rajinikanth as an ageing don released from a Malaysian prison, and the film's politics, about Tamil labourers in Malaysia, were unusual for a star vehicle of its size.

RJ Balaji directed Suriya in this 2026 fantasy drama about the guardian deity Vettai Karuppu, who takes the form of a lawyer to fight a corrupt legal system, with Trisha Krishnan. Released in May, it gave Suriya the biggest hit of his career and is the second Tamil film of 2026 on the list.