Best of 2025 Films | Anupama Chopra | THR India

In The Hollywood Reporter India’s Top 5 Films of 2025, editor Anupama Chopra curates her definitive list of the year’s most powerful cinema. From Neeraj Ghaywan’s deeply urgent COVID-19 drama Homebound, which chronicles the friendship between a Muslim man and a Dalit man battling impossible circumstances, to Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s languid and lyrical Sabar Bonda—a gay love story set in rural Maharashtra that surprises with its tenderness and grace. Writer-director-actor Rishab Shetty’s Kantara: A Legend Chapter 1 delivers a dazzling prequel set 1,500 years ago, featuring action sequences and a performance unlike anything Anupama has ever witnessed.

Mari Selvaraj’s ferocious sports drama Bison Kaalamaadan earns the number two spot, with Dhruv Vikram delivering a blistering performance as a kabaddi player from an oppressed caste navigating caste politics and a fraught relationship with his father. But the crown belongs to Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra—writer-director Dominic Arun and dramaturgist Santhy Balachandran’s critically acclaimed blockbuster that proves a female vampire superhero can be both heartbreaking and thrilling. From Netflix to Amazon Prime Video to Jio Hotstar, this list spans languages, genres, and streaming platforms, showcasing Indian cinema at its most diverse and daring. These five films represent storytelling that challenges, moves, and entertains in equal measure.

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