<p>The year 2025 has been interesting for Indian cinema so far. While most of the much awaited and big budget films tanked at the box office, there were some sleeper hits like ‘Saiyaara’ (Hindi), ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ (Malayalam) and ‘Su from So’ (Kannada). </p>.<p>Since the release of ‘Kantara Chapter 1’ on October 2, there have not been many big theatrical releases until Deepavali, which saw the release of ‘Thamma’. </p>.<p>Filmmakers are now trying to make the most of the nine weeks left until the end of the year. </p>.<p>‘Baahubali: The Epic’, a combined, re-edited version of S S Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ and ‘The Conclusion’ is scheduled for worldwide release on October 31. ‘The Taj Story’ will also release on the same day. It is reportedly based on historian P N Oak’s claim that the monument was originally Tejo Mahalaya, a Shiva temple. </p>.<p>Rashmika Mandanna has had an eventful 2025. After ‘Pushpa: The Rule’ earned her wide acclaim last year, she began 2025 with ‘Chhavva’ alongside Vicky Kaushal. The movie is reportedly 2025’s biggest opener for Hindi cinema. It was followed by ‘Sikandar’, with Salman Khan and the Telugu film ‘Kuberaa’ (directed by Sekhar Kammula) with Dhanush. She was recently seen in ‘Thamma’, part of Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Horror Comedy Universe, in which she plays a vampire opposite Ayushmann Khuranna. Rashmika has two more films lined up for release this year — the Telugu films ‘The Girlfriend’ (November 7) and ‘Mysaa’ (tentative December release). </p>.<p>‘The Girlfriend’ also stars Dheekshit Shetty in the lead role. The actor will also be seen in Kannada comedy heist ‘Bank of Bhagyalakshmi’ slated for release on November 21. The Hindi romantic drama ‘Gustaakh Ishq’ (Fatima Sana Sheikh and Vijay Varma) will also release on the same day. It is a Vishal Bharadwaj musical. </p>.<p>Kannada filmmaker Nanda Kishore’s Mohanlal-starrer ‘Vrusshabha’ is among the bigger releases in November, as is Mammooty’s ‘Kalamkaval’, an action crime thriller. The latter marks the directorial debut of Jithin K Jose, who worked as a writer for Dulquer Salmaam’s ‘Kurup’. Dulquer’s period drama ‘Kantha’ will be in theatres on Children’s Day.</p>.<p>‘Tere Ishk Mein’, a sequel to the 2013 hit ‘Raanjhanaa’, is hitting theatres on November 28. It is to be noted that the original’s Tamil-dubbed version received backlash for its AI-altered ending a few months ago. The sequel unites Anand L Rai and Dhanush. Kriti Sanon plays the lead, replacing Sonam Kapoor. </p>.<p>Emraan Hashmi and Gautam Dhar’s courtroom drama ‘Haq’ and the Ajay Devgn-Rakul Preet Singh’s rom-com ‘De De Pyaar De 2’ are scheduled to release on November 7 and 14, respectively. </p>.<p><strong>December rush</strong></p>.<p>A long-standing belief in the Kannada industry is that movies released in December, mostly towards the end of the month, tend to perform exceptionally well at the box office. Some examples are ‘Mungaru Male’ (2006), Kirik Party (2016), ‘KGF Chapter 1’ (2021), ‘Kaatera’ (2023), ‘UI’ (2024) and ‘Max’ (2024). </p>.<p>Three films featuring the industry’s biggest names are set for release in December. While ‘45’ is directed by Arjun Janya with Raj B Shetty, Upendra and Shivarajkumar playing leads, ‘Devil’ stars Darshan Thoogudeepa and ‘Mark’, Kichcha Sudeepa.</p>.<p>December will also see the release of ‘Uri’ director Aditya Dhar’s multi-starrer ‘Dhurandhar’, featuring Ranveer Singh, Arjun Rampal, Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna and Sanjay Dutt. It will be out on the last Friday of the month. The film marks Sara Arjun’s debut as the lead after playing young Nandini in Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus, ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. </p>.<p>The YRF Spy Universe, which was trolled for its physics-defying instalment ‘War 2’, starring Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR, is set to release ‘Alpha’ for Christmas. Alia Bhatt and Bobby Deol play the leads. </p>.<p>Sriram Raghavan’s war drama ‘Ikkis’ with Agastya Nanda playing a war hero is also slated for a December release. </p>.<p><strong>November for small budget films </strong></p>.<p>With December being fully booked by big stars, smaller Kannada films are banking on a November release. They still have to contend with the popularity of ‘Kantara: Chapter 1’, running successfully across theatres.</p>.<p>‘Love U Alia’ actor Chandan Kumar is making his directorial debut with ‘Flirt’ set for release on November’s first Friday. The following week will see director Simple SuNi’s ‘Gatha Vaibhava’, featuring Dushyanth and Ashika Ranganath. November 21 will see the release of at least four films — the romantic comedy ‘Full Meals’, Dheekshit Shetty’s ‘Bank of Bhagyalakshmi’, director S Narayan’s thriller ‘Marutha’ featuring Shreyas K Manju and Duniya Vijay, and Chaitra J Achar-starrer ‘Marnami’. The month ends with Vijay Raghavendra’s cop-thriller ‘Second Case of Seetharam’, a sequel to ‘Seetharam Benoy Case No 18’. </p>.<p>With theatres in Karnataka prioritising Kannada films in the Rajyotsava month, filmmakers are eyeing a considerable number of screens for their films.</p>
<p>The year 2025 has been interesting for Indian cinema so far. While most of the much awaited and big budget films tanked at the box office, there were some sleeper hits like ‘Saiyaara’ (Hindi), ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ (Malayalam) and ‘Su from So’ (Kannada). </p>.<p>Since the release of ‘Kantara Chapter 1’ on October 2, there have not been many big theatrical releases until Deepavali, which saw the release of ‘Thamma’. </p>.<p>Filmmakers are now trying to make the most of the nine weeks left until the end of the year. </p>.<p>‘Baahubali: The Epic’, a combined, re-edited version of S S Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ and ‘The Conclusion’ is scheduled for worldwide release on October 31. ‘The Taj Story’ will also release on the same day. It is reportedly based on historian P N Oak’s claim that the monument was originally Tejo Mahalaya, a Shiva temple. </p>.<p>Rashmika Mandanna has had an eventful 2025. After ‘Pushpa: The Rule’ earned her wide acclaim last year, she began 2025 with ‘Chhavva’ alongside Vicky Kaushal. The movie is reportedly 2025’s biggest opener for Hindi cinema. It was followed by ‘Sikandar’, with Salman Khan and the Telugu film ‘Kuberaa’ (directed by Sekhar Kammula) with Dhanush. She was recently seen in ‘Thamma’, part of Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Horror Comedy Universe, in which she plays a vampire opposite Ayushmann Khuranna. Rashmika has two more films lined up for release this year — the Telugu films ‘The Girlfriend’ (November 7) and ‘Mysaa’ (tentative December release). </p>.<p>‘The Girlfriend’ also stars Dheekshit Shetty in the lead role. The actor will also be seen in Kannada comedy heist ‘Bank of Bhagyalakshmi’ slated for release on November 21. The Hindi romantic drama ‘Gustaakh Ishq’ (Fatima Sana Sheikh and Vijay Varma) will also release on the same day. It is a Vishal Bharadwaj musical. </p>.<p>Kannada filmmaker Nanda Kishore’s Mohanlal-starrer ‘Vrusshabha’ is among the bigger releases in November, as is Mammooty’s ‘Kalamkaval’, an action crime thriller. The latter marks the directorial debut of Jithin K Jose, who worked as a writer for Dulquer Salmaam’s ‘Kurup’. Dulquer’s period drama ‘Kantha’ will be in theatres on Children’s Day.</p>.<p>‘Tere Ishk Mein’, a sequel to the 2013 hit ‘Raanjhanaa’, is hitting theatres on November 28. It is to be noted that the original’s Tamil-dubbed version received backlash for its AI-altered ending a few months ago. The sequel unites Anand L Rai and Dhanush. Kriti Sanon plays the lead, replacing Sonam Kapoor. </p>.<p>Emraan Hashmi and Gautam Dhar’s courtroom drama ‘Haq’ and the Ajay Devgn-Rakul Preet Singh’s rom-com ‘De De Pyaar De 2’ are scheduled to release on November 7 and 14, respectively. </p>.<p><strong>December rush</strong></p>.<p>A long-standing belief in the Kannada industry is that movies released in December, mostly towards the end of the month, tend to perform exceptionally well at the box office. Some examples are ‘Mungaru Male’ (2006), Kirik Party (2016), ‘KGF Chapter 1’ (2021), ‘Kaatera’ (2023), ‘UI’ (2024) and ‘Max’ (2024). </p>.<p>Three films featuring the industry’s biggest names are set for release in December. While ‘45’ is directed by Arjun Janya with Raj B Shetty, Upendra and Shivarajkumar playing leads, ‘Devil’ stars Darshan Thoogudeepa and ‘Mark’, Kichcha Sudeepa.</p>.<p>December will also see the release of ‘Uri’ director Aditya Dhar’s multi-starrer ‘Dhurandhar’, featuring Ranveer Singh, Arjun Rampal, Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna and Sanjay Dutt. It will be out on the last Friday of the month. The film marks Sara Arjun’s debut as the lead after playing young Nandini in Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus, ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. </p>.<p>The YRF Spy Universe, which was trolled for its physics-defying instalment ‘War 2’, starring Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR, is set to release ‘Alpha’ for Christmas. Alia Bhatt and Bobby Deol play the leads. </p>.<p>Sriram Raghavan’s war drama ‘Ikkis’ with Agastya Nanda playing a war hero is also slated for a December release. </p>.<p><strong>November for small budget films </strong></p>.<p>With December being fully booked by big stars, smaller Kannada films are banking on a November release. They still have to contend with the popularity of ‘Kantara: Chapter 1’, running successfully across theatres.</p>.<p>‘Love U Alia’ actor Chandan Kumar is making his directorial debut with ‘Flirt’ set for release on November’s first Friday. The following week will see director Simple SuNi’s ‘Gatha Vaibhava’, featuring Dushyanth and Ashika Ranganath. November 21 will see the release of at least four films — the romantic comedy ‘Full Meals’, Dheekshit Shetty’s ‘Bank of Bhagyalakshmi’, director S Narayan’s thriller ‘Marutha’ featuring Shreyas K Manju and Duniya Vijay, and Chaitra J Achar-starrer ‘Marnami’. The month ends with Vijay Raghavendra’s cop-thriller ‘Second Case of Seetharam’, a sequel to ‘Seetharam Benoy Case No 18’. </p>.<p>With theatres in Karnataka prioritising Kannada films in the Rajyotsava month, filmmakers are eyeing a considerable number of screens for their films.</p>