performance was yet again acclaimed and he found himself nominated for leading awards and won the Vijay Award for Entertainer of the Year, in addition to his seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. The film's success saw Suriya emerge as the most profitable leading actor in Tamil films, following a hattrick of large commercial hits, with film journals suggesting that his success was due to "experiments within the commercial format" and he was successful in "avoiding being typecast". The film ran 100 days in 3 states (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh). Ayan was the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2009. His next film, K. S. Ravikumar's action entertainer Aadhavan also achieved commercial success, while Suriya's depiction of a hitman was praised. A critic from Sify.com labelled it as an "out and out Suriya show", stating that "the film rides on the magic of the actor, and his zany shenanigans alone makes it worth a watch" and Rediff.com cited that "he sings, dances, and fights with absolute sincerity, but when he looks at you with tears in his eyes in an emotional scene tailor-made for him, the applause hits the roof", concluding that it is "completely his film". In 2010, he starred in his 25th release, Singam directed by Hari, in which he played the role of a police officer from a small village going to work in the city. The film received positive reviews with The Hindu newspaper noting that "Suriya shows that be it a performance-oriented role or a formulaic concoction he can deliver", while Sify.com stated "Ultimately it is Suriya who carries the film to the winning post. His passion and the way he brings an ordinary regular larger-than-life hero character alive on screen is lesson for other commercial heroes." Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni stated that he became "a great fan of Suriya" after watching Singam. The film won Suriya his second Vijay Award for Best Entertainer, in addition to his eighth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil, and subsequently went on to become the second highest-grossing film of the year. He made his Telugu and Hindi debut in the second part of Ram Gopal Varma's political drama Rakta Charitra in 2010. The film was released in Tamil as Ratha Sarithiram, which was partly dubbed and partly reshot. Suriya subsequently went on to appear as himself in three