A glimpse into Tamil Movies for 2025

Apart from this week’s and the Pongal releases (Bala’s Vangaan, Vishal’s Madha Gaja Raja, Jayam Ravi’s Kadhalike Neramillai, Vishnu Varadhan’s Nesipaya and Kishen Das’s Tharunam), Manikandan’s Kudumbasthan is set to release on 24 January.

Ajithkumar’s statement in an interview that one of his films will be releasing at the end of January has sparked discussion about whether the film he is referring to is Vidaa Muyarchi, originally scheduled for release on Pongal.

Pa Vijay’s directorial, Aghathiyaa has Jiiva, Arjun and Raashi Kanna in the lead roles and has music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. This film is scheduled for release on 31 January.

The biggies for this year include films by all the major actors of Tamil cinema.

Dhanush’s third directorial Nilavukku Enmel Ennadi Koba, (NEEK) is set to release on 7 February. Written, produced and directed by Dhanush, the film has Pavish opposite former child star Anikhe Surendran (Yennai Arindhaal, Viswasam & others). GV Prakash Kumar scores the music.

Ajithkumar’s Good, Bad Ugly (directed by Adhik Ravichandran) which has Trisha, Prabhu, Prassan, Arjun Das and Sunil in the cast. The film ha smusic by GV Prakash Kumar and is currently scheduled for release on 10 April.

10 April is also the scheduled release date for Dhanush’s 52^nd film as an actor and his fourth as director – Idly Kadai. The ensemble cast includes Rajkiran, Nithya Menen, Arun Vijay, Prakash Raj and Shalini Pandey. GV Prakash Kumar scores the music.

After mixed reaction to Kanguva, Suriya is very confident about the success of his next film, Retro which is written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. The cast includes Pooja Hegde, Jayaram, Joju George, Nassar, Prakash Raj and George Maryan. This film will release on 1 May.

One of the most eagerly awaited release for 2025 is the reunion of director Maniratnam with Kamalhaasan after their 1987 blockbuster hit, Nayakan. Titled Thug Life, the film also star stars Silambarasan, Trisha, Ashok, Aishwara Lekshi, Joju George, Abhirami and Nassar. AR Rahman scores the music. The film is jointly produced by Kamalhaasan’s Raaj Kamal Films International, Maniratnam’s Madras Talkiesand Red Giant Movies.

August sees the release of Coolie the eagerly-anticipated first collaboration between Rajinikanth and director Lokesh Kanagaraj. Nagarjunna, Sruthi Haasan, Sathyaraj, Upendra, Soubin Shahir and a special guest appearance by Aamir Khan. Music will be scored by Anirudh Ravichander.

Vijay’s last film as an actor, currently untitled, is set for release in October for Deepavali. Directed by H Vinosh, this political action thriller also stars Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Prakash Raj, Narain, Priyamani and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar. Music will be scored by Anirudh Ravichander.

This film will go toe-to-toe at the box-office against Suriya’s 45^th film which is directed by RJ Balaji. Trisha, Sshivada, Natty Subramaniam and Swasika. The film was originally scheduled to have had music by AR Rahman, but he was replaced by Sai Abhyankar, who will soon make his debut as a music composer in BENZ.

Other films still to announce the date and month of release include (among many others) Dhanush’s Kubera, Vikram’s Veera Dheera Sooran, Suriya’s Phoenix, Karthi’s Sardar 2 and Vaa Vaathiyaar, Sivakarthikeyan’s films for AR Murugadoss and Sudha Kongara, Sasikumar’s Tourist Family, Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Raghava Lawrence starrer, BENZ, Mari Selvaraj’s Bison, Shankar’s Indian 3, Pradeep Ranganathan’s Love Insurance Kompany, RJ Balaji’s Happy Ending, Sundar C’s Mookuthu Amman 2, Shanmugapandian’s Padai Thalaivan, Arun Vijay’s Retta Thala