'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.'
'It feels like the universe gently whispered, 'Pause, don't rush away yet, there's a story waiting for you here'.'
Dharmendra remained one of the most loved stars of all time, even when his movies tapered off, and age caught up with him.
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.
'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.'
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.
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.
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.
'I didn't want to do a highlight reel with greatest hits of Yash Raj Films.' 'I wanted to do an actual story.'
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.
Rain and Bollywood has immortal connection and we have best of the songs in the film on rains.
'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.'
'Sholay had a sargam of human emotions.'
While Nishaanchi is not a homerun for Kashyap, there's enough joy in this audience pleaser, notes Mayur Sanap.
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.
Yash Raj Films has launched the YRF Script Cell, a platform discovering and nurturing screenwriting talent from across the world.
'Madhubala in Kala Pani looks divine and yet, she's not just there for glamour.' 'In Do Raaste, the character of Neelambari (played by Bindu) isn't a heroine in the traditional sense but she has such a pivotal role.' 'That Raj Khosla gave a non-heroine such a central role, instead of the heroine, says a lot about how he valued female characters.'
Kantara Chapter 1 is scheduled for a worldwide release on October 2, in Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali and English.
'Gujarati films are crossing the Rs 100 crore mark, Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra has surged past Rs 300 crore, Marathi film Dashaavtar has already topped Rs 50 crore and Tamil blockbuster Coolie has raked in over Rs 250 crore.' 'These successes show that regional cinema is no longer niche.'
Shah Rukh Khan won his first National Film Award for best actor for Jawan, sharing the honour with Vikrant Massey for 12th Fail. Rani Mukerji was named best actress for Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway. 12th Fail was adjudged best feature film.
Even after 50 years, Sholay remains a lasting reminder of unity, shared memories and the joy of cinema, notes Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
'...and say that if I don't wear a sari, they will unfollow me.' 'Today, if I have 2.9 million followers on Instagram, out of that, the majority is from the South.' 'Telugu has given me the most fame and money.'
Given all the talent involved and a rousing real life story at its centre, Haq is looking solid, notes Mayur Sanap.
'At times when the pressure, glitz and glam felt horribly garish, there he was with no pretences or guile. A sweet reminder that life is about the real things not the fluff.'
Subhash K Jha remembers his conversations with movie legend Manoj Kumar, who passed into the ages on April 4, 2025.
'What do you think... those working in the film industry are illiterate people? Why don't you go and work with Bimal Roy?'
'I wanted to do something different, so I turned Dharamji into Hardy, making him waddle with Naseer's stick-like Laurel.' 'People enjoyed seeing him in these avatars. When you work with an evergreen superstar like Dharamji, you can make such 'items'.'
'After the first Kantara, when they announced the second one, I kind of knew he will call me. I had this instinct. Then he called me at midnight and I didn't pick up. I was like, I'm not talking to anybody at 12 at night. The following day, I called and we chatted. He said, I have to narrate you something. I said, I know, it's Kantara!'
'So my question was, 'What is it that you are proud of? What have you achieved? What is your contribution?' 'He had no answer.'
'When you are a pioneer and someone who's put on a pedestal, but then the pedestal gets dusty, people don't look at the statue anymore.' 'They would say, 'Yes, yes, of course I know Bimal Roy. He made Do Bigha Zamin.'.'
Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran have signed up a new film to be directed by Meghna Gulzar.
'Bappi Lahiri was looking for a break so he and his father would meet me.' 'I told Director Bhisham Kohli about this promising young boy from Kolkata, and Bappi came over with his harmonium.' 'Bappi played this composition and Bhisham liked it immediately.' 'As we were discussing, I said I would give the words, and that's how I wrote this song.'
Prabhas never looked more heroic and magnetic than he did in the dual role of Amarendra and Mahendra Baahubali, applauds Mayur Sanap after watching the nearly four hour-long Baahubali: The Epic.
'No sane person will ever want to stop this film in Bengal. This is going to heal the Bengali community.'
Saiyaara ends up a bland rehash of old ideas served in an older bottle, notes Arjun Menon.
At 8,700 screens, India, the world's largest film producing country, has just six screens for every million of its people, compared to 125 in the US and 30 in China. With Sitaare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan hopes to expand the market for Indian cinema.
'I wanted to go for the heart, and at the same time, open the audience's mind.'
'I always think I'm going to do maybe two films a year. But then I get these really good scripts and I get greedy.'
'It is daunting, for sure, because you're rowing upstream.'
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