This is also the time when South Indian films started doing well, commercially and critically, on a Pan-India scale.
The Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) has resolved to implement a revenue-sharing model for big-budget films, requiring actors and technicians to share profits and losses. The move aims to address financial pressures from declining theatrical and OTT revenues. The TFPC also mandated staggered OTT release windows and formed a committee to ensure access to theaters for smaller films.
As the year draws to a close, Rediff's Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya takes a look at the hits and misses, the highs and lows, the newsmakers and the dealbreakers in alphabetical order.
'It would be difficult for us to run jails if it wasn't for murderers.'
'Sholay had a sargam of human emotions.'
Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh have created an excellent but grim series, applauds Deepa Gahlot.
Film folk came to cheer Zahan Kapoor and his Netflix series Black Warrant.
'...an hour before he was hanged from the film Badal, 'Apne liye jiye toh kya jiye'... 'I saw eight hangings -- Ranga and Billa, Maqbool Bhat, Kartar Singh and Ujagar Singh (Dr N S Jain murder case), Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh (Indira Gandhi assassination case) and Afzal Guru.'
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday said that the 'unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives' of the people of Jammu and Kashmir after prominent leaders from ruling and opposition parties were not allowed to leave their houses to prevent them from visiting the graveyard of 1931 martyrs in Srinagar.
Everything in Good Bad Ugly seems copied, rues A Ganesh Nadar.
Vijay is counting on what was once proclaimed as his last filmi outing, Jana Nayagan, or 'People's Hero', to do the trick for him, when it releases on January 9, 2026, only months before the assembly poll, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I hope to serve stories and characters to the best of my ability.'
Sukanya Verma lists 10 hot item numbers doing the rounds in recent times.
Rajinikanth arrived in Ranchi after offering prayers at the Rajrappa temple in Ramgarh on August 17.
The actor is currently in judicial custody in the Renukaswamy murder case.
Kamal has a crisp pen when it comes to writing short and yet powerful film dialogues. But while speaking ex tempore -- and that has been his style -- he looks every bit a confused man, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Actor Allu Arjun, who was lodged in Chanchalguda Central prison in Hyderabad following a local court's remand in a case related to the death of a woman in a stampede during the premiere of his latest film, spent the night normally and had rice and vegetable curry for dinner, a senior official of the Telangana prisons department said. The actor was kept separately along with other accused in the case and was treated as a special class prisoner as per the court's order. Allu Arjun walked out of jail on Saturday following an interim bail granted by the Telangana High Court. The official refuted the remarks made by Arjun's advocate that the star was not released despite the HC's order, saying according to the jail manual no prisoner will be released after 7 PM.
'You need patience. You need to focus and keep going.' 'That is true not only for the entertainment industry, but in every field.' 'Only then, the magic happens.'
The Jailer song Kaavaalaa, featuring Rajinikanth and Tamannaah Bhatia, has become very popular.
The actor arrived in Lucknow on Friday night for the screening of his film 'Jailer'.
'While we've seen some standout series over the past year, few have been as captivating and binge-worthy as this.'
'Everybody was scared, especially with Rajesh Khanna playing a double role and playing my lover and my son.' 'It was quite a risky thing to do. That's why they made me look so old.'
'The combination of star power, compelling storytelling, and action-packed drama promises to set the box office ablaze and kickstart the new quarter on a spectacular high note.'
'Nine years ago, I had met Akhilesh at a function in Mumbai. Since then, our friendship has continued.'
Despite its minor flaws, lack of logic, and lecture-style moral narrative, Vettaiyan should be enjoyed in a theatre amid Rajini fans and their wolf whistles, endorses Divya Nair.
More than 157 million Indians watched at least one film in the theatre in 2023.
The court dismissed the petitions filed by Telugu Desam Party chief Naidu and Babu seeking to quash the FIR lodged against them with the Dharmabad police in Maharashtra's Nanded district.
The big Independence Day holiday weekend always has big releases vying for space, and this year too, there's going to be quite a clash at the box office.
'We believe these five days should get roughly about 5 to 5.5 million people or more into the cinemas.'
Leo is a good entertainer with interesting twists you wouldn't guess, applauds Divya Nair.
Vasan Bala's ability to jolt our Bollywood conditioned brains into experiencing new forms of menace, turning a John Woo-style prison riot into a Chinese communist movement and showcasing Alia in a savage new light won Sukanya Verma's dil and jigra.
India's biggest superstars are now working together.
Here's some sizzle from the IIFA Utsavam night, which was dedicated to the south film industries of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
The Tamil actor surprised everyone by making her debut on social media on Thursday, just before the release of the much-awaited trailer of her forthcoming film, Jawan.
The actor's gesture had kicked up an online storm, especially in Tamil Nadu, as many asked if it was okay for the 72-year-old actor to touch the feet of the much younger UP CM.
Arjun Menon looks at some Tamil films from the last decade that tick all the right boxes, and lists where you can watch them.
'The film-literate public in Kerala are not happy watching run-of-the-mill movies.'
Poes Garden is one of the most exclusive addresses in Chennai.
