Chances are that if you travel back in time to the end of 2024 and meet an eager cinephile, they would be more surprised at your summary of all that transpired in Tamil cinema 2025 than the fact that you just stepped out of a time machine. “Let’s go watch the pyramids being built later, I’m sure it’s the aliens, but sit down and tell me why a Rajinikanth-Lokesh Kanagaraj film and a Kamal Haasan-Mani Ratnam film didn’t work…and wait, Madha Gaja Raja released you say?” they might ask, and you might watch as their eyebrows crinkle the forehead as you follow it up with “But…” and drop a complicated (ostensibly biased) explanation for why the silver jubilee of the 2000s ended up delivering every shade of surprise; a major chunk of it disappointing, a reasonable extent of it delightful, and some that reminded us how Tamil cinema used to have magic in its masala.
The fall of the giants
Let us address the dinosaur in the room. The year started with bountiful promises and ended up giving us trust issues instead. Perhaps, as some filmmakers would suggest, the ever-inflating expectations of the audience increased the magnitude of the disappointment. Perhaps the unstoppable chain reaction of hype is a consequence of the star system, carefully fostered by the film industry itself. No matter the reason, the worst that was expected from Thug Life and Coolie was mediocrity, because it marked a Kamal Haasan-Mani Ratnam reunion after three decades and the debut collaboration of the most sought-after mainstream director of the time and the longest-reigning superstar of Tamil cinema. What ended up happening was as surprising as it was disappointing. However, the mixed response could hardly stop, let alone derail the hype train, as the momentum was just enough for Coolie, and to a lesser extent, Thug Life, to stay on the list of box-office hits.
The middling order
Although not as conspicuous, other big star films yielded remarkably mediocre results. In retrospect, the symptoms started much earlier. Ajith Kumar started the big-ticket rollout of the year with Vidaamuyarchi. Even as it was lauded for its gripping screenplay, slick visuals, great soundtrack, and for consciously stepping away from hero-worship, Vidaamuyarchi received a lukewarm response and faded out of memory. Suriya and Dhanush, the other big stars of the industry, also failed to deliver a unanimously well-received outing, with their Retro and Idli Kadai. Both the films strayed away from the typical mass masala format and still ironically drew criticisms for their outdated and clunky storytelling.
2025 is also the year when there are several films with reasonable-to-undesirable results that might still find themselves in someone’s "favourite of the year” list. Take, for example, Ajith Kumar’s second film of the year, Good Bad Ugly. Even though it was widely criticised for being fine-tuned for the reel-swiping generation, it was still celebrated by fans of the star and went on to mint big at the box office. Veera Dheera Sooran Part 2 was the darling of the critics and yet the praises hardly matched the numbers. Sivakarthikeyan’s Madharaasi was lauded as a semi-comeback for AR Murugadoss, but it left us wanting more. Maaman and Thalaivan Thalaivii delighted the masses longing for a true-blue family drama, but also received flak for celebrating outdated notions. Films like Kadhalikka Neramillai, Aaromaley, Kaantha, Mask, 3BHK, and Paranthu Po, found their audiences, but the crowd remained modest enough to make big waves. To everyone’s surprise, what ended up making the biggest wave of this year was…
Dragon hoards the treasure
Dragon was expected to be a typical college-adventure romance-drama. And it was, but it also had surprising amounts of heart, thematic coherence, levity, and rooted the classic hero’s journey to a contemporary setting. It followed a fablesque structure, where the flawed hero goes on a wild adventure, attaining everything he ever desired, but ends up losing it all and yet redeems himself at the end by accepting his flaws. Dragon was the closest Tamil cinema came to a unanimously praised mass masala box-office winner this year. And it also cemented Pradeep Ranganathan’s career as a bankable star, the effects of which were felt even towards the end of the year, with Dude.
Bitter pill in the sweet
Of all the film industries in India, Tamil cinema inarguably stands tall as the one place where contemporary social evils like casteism and other prejudices are discussed in mainstream entertainers, sensitively. Interestingly, social dramas took a slightly different dimension this year. Like sneaking a bitter pill inside a sweet, we had a sports drama and a romantic comedy discussing sensitive social issues. Released on the same day, both Bison Kaalamaadan and Dude discussed appalling ideas like caste prejudice and honour killing. Even smaller, critically acclaimed films like Angammal and Kaadhal Enbadhu Podhu Udamai explored oft-under discussed societal issues like ageism and LGBTQIA+ rights, respectively. An undeniably controversial addition to this list, Aan Paavam Pollathathu, even with its twisted notions of gender rights, opened up vital discussions and, with its success, helped bring to light mainstream conversations of such issues.
Family Matters
Amid a slew of gritty gangster films, the absence of lighthearted family dramas has been decried for the past few years. And our filmmakers answered with warmth and abundance. Films like Tourist Family and Kudumbasthan brought back the unique flavour of togetherness and solace, extending their gaze beyond just the nuclear family and how shared warmth glows brighter than any muzzle flash from a gun. Films like Maaman and Thalaivan Thalaivaii were praised for showing the messy, chaotic, and irreplaceable connection found in traditional family units. Films like Paranthu Po, Madras Matinee, and 3BHK highlighted how a familial bond helps you survive the harsh capitalistic structure of our society.
Personal space
The year also offered a string of delightful surprises in the form of smaller, critically acclaimed films that explored the deeply personal inner worlds of their characters. Bad Girl documented the coming-of-age story of a woman, warts and all, through quirky, inventive filmmaking. Naangal, a modest independent film, defied expectations with its deeply affecting and intense examination of childhood trauma. Kinaru, another small-budget independent film, received high praise for exploring grief and its interrelationship with bonding.
Remember the Titans
A case of sweet irony, Tamil cinema had to pull back a film from 2012 to deliver its first crowd-pleaser of the year, with Madha Gaja Raja in January. Keeping with the theme, 2025 kept showing us how to do big-ticket mainstream films with its numerous re-releases. With Vijay being the only star-actor without a release this year, he still kept the theatre halls ringing with cheers through re-releases like Sachein, Kushi, and Friends. While Coolie might have disappointed, Rajinikanth effortlessly reasserted his stardom with the overwhelming positive response for the re-release of Padayappa in December and Baashha in July. Similarly, people thronged to the theatres to revisit late actor-politician Vijayakanth’s Captain Prabhakaran. Ajith sustained his GBU momentum with Attagasam and Veeram releases. The highly-publicised, re-edited re-release of Anjaan came and went without a fuss, but not before teaching us how the re-releases that do work, do so for reasons beyond just nostalgia. While the big-ticket commercial films might have had us disappointed, 2025 left us with plenty of films to be happy about and lessons that hopefully, our filmmakers carry forward with zeal.