Indian cinema in 2025 marked a subtle but significant shift. The industry appeared less anxious about approval, less apologetic about history, and more confident in telling stories rooted in its own civilisational experience.
This was not a year of uniform success, but it was a year of recalibration – of audiences rewarding clarity and conviction, and rejecting confusion dressed up as craft.
If there was one unmistakable message from the box office and beyond, it was this: Indian viewers are no longer passive recipients of narrative fashion. They choose deliberately.
Dhurandhar – not the whole story
Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar was undeniably the commercial and cultural pivot of 2025. Its run – netting over ₹1,000 crore – made it the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, the third highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, and the highest-grossing A-certified Indian film ever.
Yet its importance lay not merely in numbers. The film demonstrated that scale backed by ideological clarity and technical excellence could still galvanise audiences across regions and age groups. It shattered the myth that conviction-led cinema must be niche.
With Dhurandhar: Part Two scheduled for a March 19, 2026, release – setting up a high-profile clash with Yash and Nayanthara’s Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups, directed by Geetu Mohandas – anticipation remains high. But the sequel now carries a heavier burden: to expand, not merely repeat.
Re-examining history – The Taj Story
The year 2025 also witnessed renewed interest in historical interrogation. The Taj Story stood out for daring to revisit a monument long insulated from popular questioning. The film sought to contextualise history rather than romanticise it, encouraging audiences to distinguish between architectural grandeur and the circumstances of its creation.
Whether one agreed with its interpretation or not, The Taj Story succeeded in reopening conversations that mainstream cinema had long avoided. Its impact lay less in box-office dominance and more in cultural provocation.
Issue-based cinema and its limits
Not every film that engaged with serious themes found commercial success. Haq, starring Yami Gautam and Imraan Hashmi, tackled the sensitive issue of talaq and generated intense debate.
The film’s intent was earnest and its subject contemporary, but it failed to translate relevance into box-office returns. Its fate reaffirmed an old lesson: audiences may engage with issues intellectually, but cinema must still succeed emotionally and narratively. Seriousness alone is not a substitute for storytelling.
Vivek Agnihotri’s The Bengal Files, which revisits the Noakhali riots triggered in the aftermath of Direct Action Day before Independence, drew predictable political controversy, as did his earlier works. At the box office, however, the film failed to make a significant impact.
2025 was also instructive in exposing the limits of star power and marketing muscle. Several big-budget, aggressively promoted films underperformed. Weak scripts, ideological lecturing and narrative complacency proved costly. The audience response was blunt and unforgiving. The box office, once again, proved to be the industry’s most honest critic.
Small films, strong content
Away from the glare of spectacle, regional cinema – particularly Tollywood – delivered some of the year’s most profitable successes. Low-budget films such as Little Hearts, Court: State vs A Nobody, and Raju Weds Rambai made a strong impact through content-driven storytelling.
Little Hearts delivered exceptional return on investment, while Court: State vs A Nobody, produced by Nani, emerged as a super hit. These films reinforced a vital truth: grounded narratives and emotional authenticity can still outperform scale-heavy excess.
The pan-India trend remained strong in 2025, but its dynamics evolved. Regional cinema increasingly set the agenda, with films travelling nationally because they were culturally specific, not diluted for universal appeal. This trend is expected to intensify in 2026, with audiences more willing than ever to cross linguistic boundaries for compelling stories.
Looking ahead – a crowded, confident 2026
The 2026 calendar is packed. Major sequels such as Border 2, Jailer 2, Salaar 2 and Drishyam 3 are lined up alongside ambitious mythologicals like Ramayana (Part One).
High-profile originals are also in play – Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Love & War, a big-screen adaptation of Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain, and Yash’s Toxic. Together, they reflect an industry comfortable with franchises, faith-based epics and mass entertainment – without the earlier need for ideological camouflage.
2025 may not have produced unanimous classics, but it produced clarity. Indian cinema appeared more confident, more audience-aware, and less eager to outsource its worldview.
If this trajectory continues, 2026 may not just be bigger in scale, but firmer in identity. And that, more than any single blockbuster, may define the year that was – and the year to come.
