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2025 was a year of unexpected blockbusters and major disappointments on screen. But box office should not be the only factor determining whether a film is successful or not. Some films are quiet and demanding, eventually finding their audience amidst the noise. 2025 produced many such examples in different languages, marked by originality of thought and boundary-pushing curiosity. Here’s a list of 10 underrated movies of the year that you probably missed seeing. (Also Read: 10 Best Acting Performances of 2025: From Dhanush in Kubera to Jaideep Ahlawat in Paatal Lok Season 2)
Nangal
Are the kids okay? Avinash Prakash’s poignant and atmospheric drama is a coming-of-age story with no convenient answers. It is a stirring tale of oppression and fractured fatherhood. We follow three young siblings (Mithun V, Hrithik M, and Nithin D) who are under the constant watch of their father. He slaps them repeatedly for one wrong move and the violence slowly registers in the film like a storm. He wants them to be responsible and motivated from a young age, but at what cost? Nangal is a film that goes deep.
be patient
Rohan Parshuram Kanawade’s Sabar Bonda is the most resonant and tender film of the year. It would be wrong to view this film, which won big at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, as just a gay romance. It’s just a love story, a homecoming story, that comes like a gentle stream. Starring beautifully played performances by Bhushan Manoj and Sooraj Suman, Sabar Bonda creates space for the survival of two men amidst the pressure of being non-conformists in a heterogeneous socio-cultural space. This is a film that really understands what it means to be gay in India.
Also read: Sabar Bonda review: Rohan Kanawade makes a tender, in-depth study of queer love in one of the best films of the year
Juganuma- The Fable
Manoj Bajpayee gave his best performance in Ram Reddy’s Juganuma – The Fable. Set in the Indian Himalayas in the late 1980s, this mystical drama constantly engulfs the audience in its own world and refuses to let go. Stunningly shot by Sunil Borkar on 16mm film, Juganuma is full of dreamy, intense visuals that guide the audience towards a cautionary tale of ecological decay. The film says there is nothing mysterious about inherited privilege.
Also Read: The Fable director Ram Reddy: ‘I really wanted to create a unique brand of magical realism’
deep fridge
In Arjun Dutta’s Deep Freeze, there’s no such thing as happily ever after. Former husband-and-wife Swarnava (Abir Chatterjee) and Mili (Tunushree Chakraborty) confront their past, and how they have endured hurt, disappointment and trouble along the lines of their time spent together. What can change now? They can’t be hurt for so long; They must know when to move on. It is a meditative, insightful observation of the way we choose to communicate and survive.
Thalavara
Arjun Ashokan shoulders this effective character study of a young man suffering from vitiligo in search of an acting career. Astrology faces skepticism and ridicule, but thankfully Akhil Anilkumar’s film never sensationalizes those moments. The film gives them space and time. Although the film may be a bit dramatic at times, Thalavaara is sensitively written and performed.
Sthal
Finally, a film that doesn’t beautify how marriages are arranged in India. No room for unnecessary falling in love, no boy-meets-girl, and no songs. Marathi feature Sthal, directed by Jayant Digambar Somalkar, confronts the ugly and humiliating realities of arranged marriages. It centers around Savita (the stunning Nandini Chikte), a woman who feels helpless and compared on the basis of her skin colour, height and caste identity. This is a film that wants you to sympathize with Savita and many women like her, who are victims of such prejudice.
Also read: Venue Review: A confident, bold look at the reality of Indian match-making
Agra
Kanu Behl’s Agra is a film of dizzying, frenetic energy. This is a film that will definitely make you uncomfortable, but it also wants you to follow its tortured characters until the very last moment. The sudden violence in Guru’s (Mohit Aggarwal) family becomes a microscopic lens of a country left with no choice when it comes to power and privacy. The Guru’s desires and frustrations flourish because of the stifling environment from which he demands space. Bahl doesn’t sensationalise his deeply ingrained sexual repression, but there’s nothing clean about it. Is India still ready for that conversation?
Also Read: Agra Movie Review: Kanu Bahl tackles sexual harassment in the bravest, most important film of the year
avihitham
Director Senna Hegde’s Malayalam film Avihitham is a powerful black comedy about patriarchal society’s obsession with unnecessary gossip, moral policing and scrutiny. When Prakashan (Renji Kankol) discovers an illicit affair between a local man, Vinod (Vineeth Vasudevan), and a woman from his village, it sets off a chain reaction of assumptions. Public life becomes fodder for rumors and public spectacle. This is an important film, told with subtlety and confidence.
stolen
Karan Tejpal’s survival thriller, about two brothers who get entangled in the search for a kidnapped child, is a film that grabs you from the first frame and doesn’t let go. Led by Abhishek Banerjee’s excellent performance, it takes the audience straight inside the chaos and madness of the situations that rapidly unfold. It’s brutal, unforgiving and ultimately questions the destructive silence of a society that feels like a trap.
Also Read: Chori Review: A survival drama done right with the in-form Abhishek Banerjee
There are four flowers and there is the world
The recent death of acclaimed author Vinod Kumar Shukla provides an added layer of sadness to this beautiful documentary. In director Achal Mishra’s perceptive and evocative frames, the author comes alive in his sober and careful observations on a life lived in creative pursuit. It feels like spending a day with him, basking in his presence. This is a wonderful and deeply moving document on one of our greatest writers.
Also read: Interview | Achal Mishra on meeting Vinod Kumar Shukla, making Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai
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