Big films like Dhurandhar, Chhava and Kantara: Chapter 1 hit box office gold in 2025, and its directors, Aditya Dhar, Laxman Utekar and Rishab Shetty, have proved their worth. But many other directors made an impact with their 2025 releases, in various languages.
Aseem Chhabra ranks the Best of 2025's films that released in theatres, or went directly to OTT platforms.
The year had a variety of films to choose from. Not all of them were successful at the box office, but had merit.
The proposed meeting triggered a debate on social media with some users flaying the actor for arranging travel and accommodation for the meeting of the affected families whereas he could have visited Karur and consoled them.
Whether it was in the company of superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan -- or, on rare occasions with both together, among others -- Saravanan's demeanour would stand out, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Mari Selvaraj delivers his most rage-filled film in years, with a superbly cast Dhruv Vikram giving it his all, notices Arjun Menon.
Dhadak 2, starring Triptii Dimri and Siddhant Chaturvedi, releases on August 1, and film folk queued up to watch it at a special Mumbai screening the night before.
'So my question was, 'What is it that you are proud of? What have you achieved? What is your contribution?' 'He had no answer.'
After a long time, here's a film that does justice to the people whose stories are never heard or written about, notes Divya Nair.
Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri put forward their never-seen-before intense side in Dhadak 2, which is deemed as the spiritual sequel to the Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor-starrer 2018 film, Dhadak.
Triptii Dimrii can wear just about anything and make it look absolutely fantastic.
Pa Shanmugam's Tamil movie directed by Vincent Selva and starring Sundar C is a concoction of glitzy heroines and mindless entertainment.
Indian author Perumal Murugan's Tamil novel Pyre is among 13 books from across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America to make it to the longlist of the International Booker Prize 2023, announced by the Booker Prize Foundation in London on Tuesday.
Banu Mushtaq's "Heart Lamp" is the first Kannada title to be shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025. The collection of short stories, translated from Kannada to English by Deepa Bhasthi, tells stories of encroaching modernity and the lives of Muslim women in southern India. The judges praised Mushtaq's "witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating" style of writing.
His village didn't have a school so he went to school in a neighbouring village and often studied by kerosene light.
Seven people, including spectators and a bull owner, died in jallikattu and manjuvirattu events held across Tamil Nadu on Kaanum Pongal day. Two bulls also died in separate incidents. Over 150 people were injured in the events, which saw hundreds of bulls and tamers participate.
The Delhi BJP's 'Jhuggi Samman Yatra' gained unwanted attention as a photograph of noted Tamil author Perumal Murugan inadvertently made it to the posters of the outreach campaign in the city's slums, following which the party issued an apology.
'We were hoping for her victory and had planned celebrations bigger than Deepavali'
Former National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon has stated that the political dynamics between India and Pakistan have resulted in a "controlled level of hostility" that benefits the ruling elites in both nations. Speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival, Menon described Pakistan as a "brand new state" still grappling with its national identity. He argued that India's foreign policy towards Pakistan is influenced by its domestic politics, resulting in an uneasy equilibrium characterized by a "controlled level of hostility." Menon also questioned the concept of a multipolar world, stating that the current global order is merely "confused." He emphasized that the United States remains the world's true military hegemon, while other nations, including China, are regional powers. Menon further argued that there is no binding international order, leading to a state of "between orders." He highlighted the absence of definitive international agreements on crucial issues in recent decades.
The Maha Kumbh 2025 at Prayagraj will feature a "Yuva Maha Kumbh", a gathering of youth and students celebrating Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary and his vision for India. The event, organized by the Vivekananda Kendra, will include workshops and discussions on Swami Vivekananda's teachings and their relevance to modern India. The gathering will take place from January 20th, coinciding with the Maha Kumbh, and is expected to draw a large number of young people.
'Why did Mother Sea do this to her children? He could not rationalise it.'
The world's biggest match-fixer, Indian-origin Wilson Raj Perumal is suspected of masterminding the rigging of Australian professional football, the biggest in the nation's history, even while he was under Hungarian police protection in Europe.
An old plot, confusing sub-plots make this Malayalam film directed by Prasad Velacherry, and starring Madhu and Seema, yet another disappointment of the season.
Two sons return to their dead father's village to keep alive memories, and are the only ones living in the crumbling hamlet, discovers A Ganesh Nadar.
A censor is seated inside me now. He is testing every word that is born within me. His constant caution that a word may be misunderstood so, says Murugan.
Threatened by protests from Hindutva activists a dismayed Murugan had announced in a Facebook post in December 2014 that the writer in him was dead.
The Madras high court on Wednesday gave Tamil writer Perumal Murugan, who withdrew from the literary world after a row over his novel Mathorubhagan objected to by right wing groups, the liberty to decide if he would like to pursue a petition filed by a supporter or that by a writer's forum.
Boosted by a Madras high court judgement that dismissed an attempt to bring criminal charges against Perumal Murugan whose writings on caste angered Hindu groups, the Tamil novelist has said he will "get up" and resume writing.
Ironically, rival Tamil Nadu governments expend the most on social welfare schemes, especially targeting women and youth and children, but that money comes only by selling more liquor. There is always the specious plea, which has been peddled very many times in the past, that without licensed liquor, drinkers would go after hooch and there could be more hooch tragedies and hooch deaths. No one is convinced, but no one can dispute it either, comments N Sathiya Moorthy.
The 67-year-old gave the example of two neighbouring states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, to buttress his point on why seat-sharing pattern of the INDIA bloc will vary from state to state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party vs ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam battle over live telecast of the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration in Tamil Nadu shrines reached the Supreme Court on Monday, with the apex court asking the authorities to act in accordance with the law and not based on any oral instructions.
Maamannan could have been so much better with an alternate lead actor and a tighter, more gripping storytelling, sighs a disappointed Divya Nair.
Directed by Vasan Bala, the murder mystery will stream on Netflix from November 11.
The NIA had filed the case suo motu on July 8 last year and arrested the 13 persons from Tamil Nadu.
Aseem Chhabra lists his favorite 2023 films -- a healthy blend of Bollywood, Hindi indies and some of the best work that is being done in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali cinema.
Matondkar, 48, had resigned from the Congress in September 2019 after a short association of six months, and joined the Shiv Sena in 2020.
Sikandar Kher's Nishikant Adhikari is a solitary poet by the corner, trying to remind us that the honest plans of honest people don't always come to respectable ends, observes Sreehari Nair.
Kalia Perumal, brother of former telecom minister A Raja, was on Wednesday questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the 2G spectrum case.
The Madras high court on Tuesday held that the devotees of Thenkalai sect must be given the first two or three rows inside the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram and behind them the Vadakalai sect, and ordinary devotees shall be permitted to sit in the remaining available space.
The Corosure Kit has received ICMR approval with the highest score and DCGI approved with a very high sensitivity and specificity.
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