CE Year in Review 2025:
In a year marked with disappointments, respite came from unexpected quarters. Even as star-driven films that created noise before release fell silent upon hitting the theatres, some small and sincere works stepped in to restore faith in Tamil cinema. Stories driven by empathy and emotional awareness resulted in some crucial interventions in 2025. This year also marked the advent of some promising actors who carry the potential to take the industry forward towards a meaningful future. The first-time filmmakers and new actors did not merely survive this parched year, but gave a new lease of life to the industry to step into 2026 with cautious optimism.
Tourist Family - Dir Abishan Jeevinth
Tourist Family is another warm tale of togetherness and provides a much-needed breather to the Tamil cinema, which is ending 2025 on a very dismal note. Packaged with poignancy and humour, the Simran-Sasikumar starrer sent home an important point on belonging in the middle of charged political discussions across the world on the crisis of identity, immigration and citizenship. In addition to the tight screenplay with little to no chaff, Abishan made some gutsy political statements right at the beginning of his career. Be it powerful performances, inventive levity, or political statements, Tourist Family ticks all the boxes. Tourist Family's success is not evanescent. With the year coming to a close, the film will be remembered for a long time as a crucial fillip to Tamil cinema from an unexpected quarter.
Aaromaley - Dir Sarang Thiagu
Sarang Thiagu does a subtle role reversal in his feel-good romantic drama Aaromaley, starring Shivathmika Rajashekar and Kishen Das. Similar to Bad Girl fitting a girl inside the male-dominated soup story template, Aaromaley broke another exclusivity in Tamil cinema – the 'Loosu Ponnu' character trait. Here it is a 'Loosu Paiyan' Ajith (Kishen), who does nothing and foolishly believes an angel will descend to right all the wrongs of his life, until an angel finally comes into his life in the form of Anjali (Shivathmika). She, however, is a no-nonsense angel with broken wings and scars who has no time for cheesy kind of love. As soothing as it is, Aaromaley also emphasises that weaponising or even being curious about your potential partner's past has to be done away with for a healthy relationship.
Kudumbasthan - Dir Rajeshwar Kalisamy
The debut filmmaker in the run-up to the release of this Manikandan starrer said that he wanted to make an adventure film, and nothing matches the adventurous life of a middle-class man. After watching Kudumbasthan, we couldn't agree more. Our heart sinks, but at the same time, we let out a hearty laugh, looking at how a pitiable Naveen (Manikandan) dusts himself off of novel situations that keep knocking him down at the count. We wonder how and feel sorry for Naveen as he keeps walking into trouble. While the adventures of James Bond or Ethan Hawke make us want to be a part of those heroic acts, the double whammy of an unsupportive family due to their disapproval of Naveen's intercaste wedding and the daily-life slog, could make you step back and think again if you are really prepared to become a kudumbasthan (family man) yet.
House Mates - Dir Rajavel
In 2021, Silambarasan TR-Venkat Prabhu's Maanaadu was awe-inspiring for introducing a high-concept of time dilation to a story with Tamil sensibilities and a relevant political commentary. Debut director Rajavel similarly has flirted with the phenomenon of Tesseract in a proper emotional family drama, House Mates. This concept would have lent itself to innovative screenplay situations and derived fresh performances from Darshan, Aarsha Baiju, Kaali Venkat, and Vinothini Vaidyanathan. An engaging family drama with a sci-fi element to it ensured that there was not a single dull moment in the film.
Kiss - Dir Satish Krishnan
In complete agreement with the kind of breezy freestyle steps he composes for songs, choreographer Satish Krishnan has made his directorial debut with a warm and cosy entertainer, Kiss. Starring Kavin and Preity Asrani, the film never gave an air of complexity. But with the protagonist gifted/cursed with the ability to foresee relationships, Satish would have created an engaging drama leading up to a simple/usual/cheesy/cutesy resolution of a girl and guy reuniting after a fallout. With all its flaws, Kiss did leave its imprint this year.
Grace Antony - Paranthu Po
Ram's Paranthu Po is the kindest film of the year, featuring the kindest characters. Picture a man going out to work, leaving his wife to take care of their devilish kid, wanting to chase everything right in the moment he dreams about. You hear stock lines such as - 'Veetla dhaane irukka, idha vida enna vela?' Glory (Grace Antony), never in the film ever chastises Gokul (Shiva) every time he is required to chase their son in his countless escapades. As she is mostly not physically present with her husband and son, Grace, as Glory, with subtlety, had a lot of convincing to do as to her being a part of every little thing going on in her family. Embodying Glory, Grace showed a lot of nuance as her character has her own set of demons, like a lack of supportive parents and siblings, and a minor episode with her shop help. She even literally waltzes through all her troubles. Grace exuded brilliance in her Tamil debut by displaying Glory's duality of both wanting companionship and also showing fortitude in the face of the hardships she faces in Coimbatore, keeping Gokul unaware of anything that happens there.
Rukmini Vasanth - Ace and Madharaasi
Not that Rukmini Vasanth's performances in the Vijay Sethupathi starrer Ace and Sivakarthikeyan's Madharaasi were enough to be blown away by. While her characters in both these films strictly adhered to the Tamil cinema playbook for heroines, Rukmini's introduction into the Tamil film industry is one of the crucial and beneficial occurrences. Her splendid performances in Sapta Sagaradaache Ello films and Kantara: A Legend Chapter-1 stand to testify to the range she can scale in acting. Having gotten a decent start to her Tamil career with two films this year, Rukmini Vasanth is one powerhouse performer to watch out for in the coming years.
Ajay Dhishan - Maargan
The sustained confusion whether or not he is a criminal for a considerable amount of the runtime speaks volumes of the success of Tamilarivu in Vijay Antony-led Maargan, and the capability of the debutant Ajay Dhishan as an actor. This investigative thriller is one of the few films in recent years to have a well-fleshed-out character for someone who is neither the hero nor the villain. Having played a complex character at a very nascent stage, Ajay Dhishan seems to hold promise and shows strong signs of having a very long career.
LK Akshay Kumar - Sirai
Shah Rukh Khan, in an interview, said that things will turn good in the end; if they don't, then it is not the end. The year 2025 is not something that the Tamil film industry can take mighty pride in, but it has ended on a really satisfactory note. Vikram Prabhu starrer Sirai is one of the many such small films that left a mark this year. More than the film containing an arresting story, it has also produced a promising talent in the form of LK Akshay Kumar, who stars as Abdul. Playing a character that goes through so much love, loss, and systemic prejudice in his very first role, Akshay made a strong statement and a declaration that he can portray such heavy roles. He adds depth to his character, suffering from the twin tragedies of personal loss and the cold machinery of justice.
Sai Abhyankkar - Dude
The phrase "Like or hate, but you cannot debate," suits debut music composer Sai Abhyankkar best. He was welcomed into the film industry, thanks to his success as an indie musician, to much fanfare with his debut film, Dude. His longevity in the industry has already been guaranteed with the social media debates that polarised people between the confusing lyrics of 'Oorum Blood' and its repetition in the background score, and people praising him for packaging a range of emotions within one song. As we wait to witness more of him in the film space, his sway over Tamil pop culture, be it through films or independent songs, remains undisputed.