'Finding it on screen because I am not getting it in real life.'
'Do films today even have the courage to question the establishment?'
From winning hearts as the fierce little warrior in the Hindi TV serial Jhansi Ki Rani to returning to cinemas with Kerala Story 2, Ulka Gupta is showing us she's not just evolving as an actor, her style game is levelling up too.
From winning hearts as the fierce little warrior in the Hindi TV serial Jhansi Ki Rani to returning to cinemas with Kerala Story 2, Ulka Gupta is showing us she's not just evolving as an actor, her style game is levelling up too.
Gustaakh Ishq feels like a cinematic revival of everything we once loved about Urdu story-telling, observes Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Two men smiling, eyeing each other as they briefly let their guard down, with no care of what the world around them is thinking, that has almost never been shown in a Bollywood film, notes Aseem Chhabra.
'They are as layered and complicated as life itself.' 'There is love, but there is also pain and fire.'
Over 25 years, societies evolve and tastes change. Cinema absorbs and reflects this transformation. Picking only 25 films from the first quarter of the century is tough.
Whether it was in the company of superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan -- or, on rare occasions with both together, among others -- Saravanan's demeanour would stand out, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh lists film stories that he absoloutely loves.
Salim-Javed's speciality was conjuring the kind of violence that played on your mind rather than the sort that played out only in front of your eyes.
Tu Yaa Main feels rather indulgent for a survival drama. You can see where it's headed, and it just grows tiresome after a point, observes Mayur Sanap.
Dhurandhar does not ask audiences to cheer blindly, notes Kumar Abhishek. It asks them to see how power operates in grey zones, and at moral cost.
Dhurandhar releases on Netflix on January 30.
'This story has been always there since my childhood because of missing people.' 'I remember a family member who disappeared and I kept wondering what happened to him.'
Aseem Chhabra ranks the Best of 2025's films that released in theatres, or went directly to OTT platforms.
'People are watching Gujarati films along with these huge films. I still can't process it.'
Christmas Karma narrowly misses being a highway pile up, mainly because its heart is in the right place, believes Deepa Gahlot.
'Despite acting in some 100 films and television plays, people still remember the daadi of Hum Log.'
Rain and Bollywood has immortal connection and we have best of the songs in the film on rains.
'Somewhere our society's collective morality is lost. There's a kind of moral confusion in our society which reflects in our films.' 'Filmmakers are hiding behind romance, ghost stories, murder mysteries and sex. No film is looking at social issues.'
'I didn't want to do a highlight reel with greatest hits of Yash Raj Films.' 'I wanted to do an actual story.'
'To be here for 35 years and to move from the idiom which the market has acknowledged you for -- which is horror -- and to come into an intimate space where the heart beats, the soul cries, and to pull out the story from the life of a living person is a challenge.'
'Audiences are loyal to good content.'
2026 is all set to be big, when it comes to movie releases from Bollywood as well as pan-India releases from Tamil and Telugu cinema.
Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2 may be a comedy filled with chaos, but in its indirect way, it speaks about a time when the Constitution mattered more than one's religion and when the idea of India was larger than personal hate, observes Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'It feels like the universe gently whispered, 'Pause, don't rush away yet, there's a story waiting for you here'.'
'I often give myself a pat on the shoulder, reminding myself that I've done a good job considering where I started and the mindset I grew up with.'
Dharmendra remained one of the most loved stars of all time, even when his movies tapered off, and age caught up with him.
Aditya Pancholi has claimed he was the first choice to play the lead role opposite Madhuri Dixit in Tezaab, a role that eventually went to Anil Kapoor.
Prashant Tamang's wife Martha Aley shut down all speculation about his sudden death on January 11 by confirming that his death was 'natural' and occurred while he was asleep.
2025 started with a blockbuster in Chhaava and ended with an even bigger one in Dhurandhar. There have been other Hindi hits too, and we take a look at the Top 10.
'Sholay had a sargam of human emotions.'
Big films like Dhurandhar, Chhava and Kantara: Chapter 1 hit box office gold in 2025, and its directors, Aditya Dhar, Laxman Utekar and Rishab Shetty, have proved their worth. But many other directors made an impact with their 2025 releases, in various languages.
This is also the time when South Indian films started doing well, commercially and critically, on a Pan-India scale.
Arundhati Roy's 1989 film, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, which won two National Awards for Best Screenplay for Roy and Best Feature Film in English, is among the line-up of 10 films for the Berlinale Classics segment.
Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri put forward their never-seen-before intense side in Dhadak 2, which is deemed as the spiritual sequel to the Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor-starrer 2018 film, Dhadak.
'When my character died in Border, I felt a strange sense of pride. But today, I sometimes feel that if my character had survived, perhaps I would have been a part of Border 2.'
While Nishaanchi is not a homerun for Kashyap, there's enough joy in this audience pleaser, notes Mayur Sanap.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances