 Vikram signed on to feature in the action thriller , Anniyan directed by prominent director Shankar in March 2004 . Vikram agreed to shoot for the film for 140 days , which was revealed to be amongst the longest contracts signed by an actor in a Tamil film . The film featured him as a character suffering from dissociative identity disorder with three distinct personae : a meek lawyer , a suave fashion model and a psychotic serial killer . Prior to release , the film was touted as the most expensive South Indian film ever , costing Rs 26 @.@ 38 crores , and released across India with 400 prints . Anniyan took an " extraordinary opening " , went on to become a blockbuster grossing more than <unk> crores through the original and two dubbed versions . Vikram 's performance was unanimously praised , with a reviewer from Sify citing that " Anniyan truly belongs to Vikram and the film is unthinkable without him " and " it is a role that could have been reduced to a caricature by a lesser actor " . The film won 8 out of the 15 awards possible at the 2005 Filmfare Awards South , with Vikram adjudged Best Actor . Later in the year , he signed and completed Shafi 's comedy film with Asin , Majaa , in less than five months . The film which also featured Pasupathy as his brother , saw Vikram work as the assistant director under Shafi . Majaa faced a poor response at the box office and fetched average reviews with a reviewer citing that " you will surely find something missing " . 
