2025 was a year of unexpected blockbusters and big disappointments on screen. But the box office must not be the only determining factor of whether a film has succeeded or not. Certain films are quiet and demanding, ones that eventually find their audience amid the noise. 2025 delivered many such examples across languages, marked by originality of thought and boundary-pushing curiosity. Here is a list of 10 underrated films of the year that you probably missed.
- Naangal
Are the kids doing okay? Avinash Prakash’s searing and atmospheric drama is a coming-of-age story that does not lead to convenient answers. It is a provocative tale of repression and fractured parenthood. We follow three young siblings (Mithun V, Rithik M, and Nithin D), who are under the unrelenting gaze of their father. He slaps them again and again for a misstep, and the violence gradually registers in the film like a storm. He wants them to be responsible and motivated from a young age, but at what cost? Naangal is a film that cuts deep. - Sabar Bonda
Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s Sabar Bonda is the year’s most resonant and tender film. It would be wrong to slot it, which won big at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, as just a gay romance. It is just a love story, a story of homecoming, that arrives like a gentle stream. Laced with beautiful performances from Bhushaan Manoj and Suraaj Suman, Sabar Bonda makes space for two men to exist amid the pressures of being non-conformist in a heteronormative socio-cultural space. This is a film which truly understands what it means to be gay in India. - Jugnuma- The Fable
Manoj Bajpayee gave one of his best performances in Raam Reddy’s Jugnuma- The Fable. Set in the Indian Himalayas of the late 1980s, this mystical drama steadily envelops the viewer in its own world and refuses to let go. Stunningly shot by Sunil Borkar on 16mm film, Jugnuma is filled with dreamy, immersive visuals which guide the viewer to its cautionary tale of ecological decay. There is nothing mysterious about inherited privilege, the film says. - Deep Fridge
In Arjunn Dutta’s Deep Fridge, there is no such thing as a happily ever after. Ex-spouses Swarnava (Abir Chatterjee) and Mili (Tnusree Chakraborty) confront their past, and how they have processed the hurt, frustrations and discomfort along the lines of their time together. What can change now? They can’t be hurt for so long; they must know when to move on. It is a meditative, richly observed look at the way we communicate and choose to survive. - Thalavara
Arjun Asokan shoulders this effective character study of a young man with vitiligo, chasing an acting career. Jyothish is met with scepticism and ridicule, but thankfully, Akhil Anilkumar’s film never sensationalises those moments. The film grants him space and time. Although the film might be a little melodramatic at times, Thalavara remains sensitively written and performed.
(Hindustan Times)