My Favourites From 2025 World Cinema

 

While writing about the top films of this year, I was baffled by the megalomania that the Telugu Cinema has been going through. Yes, it is hard to see my first love going down the barrel, heading into an abyss that it can never recover from. Well, people who love to see the brighter side say that Court, Little Hearts, Raju Weds Rambai, Kanyakumari and The Great Indian Pre-Wedding Show have become hits. But please stop looking at box office collections as the ultimate metric for good writing and quality direction. This is not Telugu Cinema and these are not the standards that Telugu Cinema should aim to uphold.

Fluff vs Content:

Let’s go full-on analysis mode and see if any of the films released this year aimed for genuine content or simply managed with fluff.

Sankranthiki Vasthunam: Relangi Narasimha Rao used to dish out films like these with Rajendra Prasad and Naresh as leads every year. Don’t tell me watching Venkatesh in E.V.V. Satyanarayana’s Intlo Illalu Vantitlo Priyuralu [1996] with its wide range of expressions and internal conflicts, is the same as Sankranthiki Vasthunam. This is nostalgia repackaged, not innovation.

HIT 3:  Did it even deliver on fluff?? When a thriller fails to thrill, even fluff feels hollow.

Daaku Maharaaj: Let’s call a graveyard specialist from any cemetery and dig up Nippu Ravva, Narasimha Naidu NBK out of this Boya-bhasmam version. Well, thank you to those who rejected real bhasmam – Akhanda 2. You should have rejected this fluffy film which resembles Aswamedham of NBK. Recycling old formulas without soul only proves how far content has slipped.

They Call Him OG: Do I even have to list out the issues? Style without substance is the loudest kind of fluff.

Court: A highly fluffy film that mistakes resemblance for content. Jolly LLB and Court share similar structural elements, but this one fails to address the elephant in the room, teenage – adult love. You need a much better representation of characters and aspirations, it doesn’t give any. Borrowed skeletons without fresh flesh make for weak storytelling.

Little Hearts: I did not write a review for this film, though many asked me to. One glaring thing I felt is that this movie had a short-film theme and a few jokes that worked. That was enough for audiences… fine. But does that really offer much more content than that to even discuss? You can’t stitch together senseless chaos / logic and expect coherence.

The Great Pre-Wedding Show, Kanyakumari and Raju Weds Rambai: Again, 30 minutes of content being dragged forcefully into a 2 hour film. Stretching thin ideas into feature length only exposes the lack of depth. Stretching thin ideas into feature length only exposes the lack of depth.

What is the whole point?

Now let’s see what Telugu Cinema used to dish out every year before the 2010s. I am not even asking you to go back to the 1990s or before that, just the 2000s. There were at least 25 – 35 films we can talk about as decade standouts. Tell me, how many are there in the 2010s and how many in the 2020s till date? Fifteen in the 2010s, and in the 2020s so far???

The problem again lies in young heroes trying to crack that Pan India code. Look at Dhurandhar this year, did Ranveer Singh go to Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi to promote his film? Did the movie release with any hype? How much hype did it really have prior to release? And now, what is its box office collection? Do you really need to make a fool out of yourself by pushing every movie to become a Pan India film, or do you need to concentrate on content and let it do its magic? Dhurandhar is not a great film nor did it offer anything beyond themes we have already seen. Still, it had brilliance in technical values and production. There are stories about how the makers traveled the length and breadth of the country to get the shots as imagined. Akshaye Khanna, a generational talent truly connected with audiences. What did any of our so-called Pan-India films offer?

Well, the problem with Telugu Cinema is so deeply internalized that it stopped looking for solutions that could be permanent and instead started relying on quick fixes that only keep the system running. Take a film like Shambhala, it works at the idea level but fails to give similar satisfaction at the script level. If the writing team had concentrated not on what big idea they could tell, but on how to keep it real and relatable, it would have helped them immensely. Their penchant has always been to present the idea on a large canvas rather than creating one more scene or one more sequence that could truly bring everything together, like the real evil it should have been. This is the kind of quick fix logic that producers are trying to apply to secure dates and distribution for films. Hence, we see every big film trying to get hikes and every small-budget film trying to become that “big surprise” of the year in publicity rather than in reality.

Currently, OTT platforms have started asking for script reads, multiple reviews and the involvement of even better writers/people before they invest. Hopefully, this will force producers to see the limitations and understand that creative problems do not need desperate fixes but longer, durable solutions. Trying to be hopeful for 2026 after a barren 2025 in Telugu Cinema, we now turn to world cinema’s bold, imaginative and original standouts.

Television Series:

Andor | 2022 | Sci-Fi / Political Thriller | USA

Adolescence | 2025 | Drama | USA

Black Warrant | 2025 | Crime Thriller | India

When Life Gives You Tangerines | 2025 | Romance Drama | South Korea

Broen | 2011 | Crime Noir | Sweden / Denmark

Common Side Effects | 2025 | Drama / Satire | USA

Foundation | 2021 | Sci Fi | USA

Pluribus | 2025 | Experimental Drama | USA

The Rehearsal | 2022 | Docu-Satire | USA

The Studio | 2025 | Satire Drama | USA

Hollywood Cinema:

Black Bag | 2025 | Thriller | Steven Soderbergh | USA

Bring Her Back | 2025 | Drama / Thriller | Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou | USA

Daddio | 2023 | Drama | Christy Hall | USA

Eephus | 2024 | Drama | Carson Lund | USA

F1 | 2025 | Action  Sports | Joseph Kosinski | USA

Fallen | 1998 | Supernatural Thriller | Gregory Hoblit | USA

How to Train Your Dragon | 2025 | Animation Fantasy | Dean DeBlois | USA

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You | 2025 | Drama | Mary Bronstein | USA

Jaws @ 50 | 2025 | Documentary | Laurent Bouzereau | USA

Lurker | 2025 | Horror | Alex Russell | USA

One Battle After Another | 2025 | Drama | Paul Thomas Anderson | USA

Predator: Killer of Killers | 2025 | Sci-Fi Action | Dan Trachtenberg, Joshua Wassung | USA

Sinners | 2025 | Drama | Ryan Coogler | USA [Review]

The New Yorker at 100 | 2025 | Documentary | Directed by Marshall Curry | USA

The Perfect Neighbor | 2025 | Documentary Drama |USA

The Shrouds | 2025 | Drama Mystery | David Cronenberg | Canada/USA

The Ugly Stepsister | 2025 | Fantasy Drama | Emilie Blichfeldt | USA

Train Dreams | 2025 | Drama | Clint Bentley | USA

Weapons | 2025 | Thriller | Zach Cregger | USA

World Cinema:

2000 Meters to Andriivka | 2025 | War Documentary | Mstyslav Chernov | Ukraine

Avihitham | 2025 | Drama | Senna Hegde | India

Bison Kaalamaadan | 2025 | Drama | Mari Selvaraj | India

Bugonia | 2025 | Black Comedy / Sci-Fi Thriller | Yorgos Lanthimos | UK

Cloud | 2024 | Drama / Fantasy | Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Japan

Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai | 2025 | Drama | Achal Mishra | India

Dies Irae | 2025 | Horror | Rahul Sadasivan | India [Review]

Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino | 2004 | Historical Drama | Lav Diaz | Philippines

Eko | 2025 | Drama | Dinjith Ayyathan | India

Lokah Chapter 1 | 2025 | Fantasy / Drama | Dominic Arun | India [Review]

Hridayapoorvam | 2025 | Drama | Sathyan Anthikad | India

Homebound | 2025 | Drama | Neeraj Ghaywan | India

Istri Dari Masa Depan | 2025 | Sci-Fi / Drama | Yandy Laurens | Indonesia

Invention | 2024 | Experimental | Mark Lewis | Canada

It Was Just an Accident | 2025 | Drama | Jafar Panahi | Iran

Misericordia | 2023 | Drama | Alain Guiraudie | France

Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam | 2025 | Drama | Dhanush | India

No Other Choice | 2025 | Drama | Park Chan-wook | South Korea

Nouvelle Vague | 1990 | Drama | Jean-Luc Godard | France

Öldürdüğün Şeyler | 2025 | Drama | Alireza Khatami | Turkey

Pon Man | 2025 | Drama | Jotish Shankar | India

Porandhu Po | 2025 | Drama | Ram | India

Red Rooms | 2023 | Thriller | Pascal Plante | Canada

Sarvam Maya | 2025 | Drama | Akhil Sathyan | India [Review]

Sentimental Value | 2025 | Drama | Joachim Trier | Norway

Sirat | 2025 | Drama | Óliver Laxe | Spain

Snow Bear | 2025 | Family / Adventure | Takashi Yamazaki | Japan

Superboys of Malegaon | 2025 | Documentary | Reema Kagti | India

Tere Ishk Mein | 2025 | Romance | Aanand L. Rai | India [Review]

The Great Shamsuddin Family | 2025 | Drama | Anusha Rizvi | India

The Legend of Hei 2 | 2025 | Animation / Fantasy | MTJJ (Zhang Ping) | China

The Long Walk | 2019 | Sci-Fi / Drama | Mattie Do | Laos

Thudarum | 2025 | Drama | Tharun Moorthy | India

Tourist Family | 2025 | Drama | Abishan Jeevinth | India [Review]

Universal Language | 2025 | Drama | Matthew Rankin | Canada / USA

Chalo Iss saal ki kahani yahin tak…

2025 has been a journey of discovery filled with bold steps, creative sparks, meaningful connections, and moments that reminded me how beautiful growth can be. I’m deeply thankful for the lessons learned, the people who stood by me, and the stories that shaped this year into something unforgettable.

Now, as 2026 dawns, I carry forward that spirit with hope and excitement. Here’s to embracing new challenges, celebrating fresh victories, and writing chapters that inspire joy and resilience. The reel is rolling, the stage is set – 2026, let’s make it extraordinary.