Year-Ender 2025: From Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘Homebound’ to Honey Trehan’s ‘Raat Akeli Hai 2’, 9 Best Hindi Films of the Year and Where To Watch Them Online

A disclaimer first - I do not want this year-end list to be around box office performances, lifetime grosses, the false equivalence of 'success' with visibility. Cinema, at its most honest, has never been about spreadsheets. It is about impact: the knot in the stomach a scene leaves behind, the uncomfortable silence after the credits roll, the way a story lingers long enough to alter how you see the world around you. Like the last scene of Shoaib sitting on the riverside, reminiscing about his friend in Homebound. Year Ender 2025: From Salman Khan’s ‘Sikandar’ to Dhanush’s ‘Tere Ishk Mein’, 11 Hindi Movies of the Year That Disappointed Us the Most!

The films that stayed with me in 2025 did so not because they dominated headlines or box-office charts, but because they trusted the intelligence of the viewer and the power of the medium.

This list, therefore, is not an assessment of commercial winners but a celebration of filmmakers who chose conviction over convenience. These are films that engaged deeply with social realities, emotional truths, and cinematic craft - works that demanded attention rather than demanded applause. In a year where Hindi cinema often felt trapped between franchise fatigue and ideological posturing, these films stood out by simply being sincere, urgent, and artistically alive.

So without further ado, here are my favourite Hindi movies of 2025 where cinema shone, not radical ideas (in order of its release date) and where to watch them online.

1. Mrs (Director: Arati Kadav)

Streaming Platform: Zee5

Even if Mrs feels like a retread of its Malayalam predecessor, it functions as a sobering reminder that the ‘great Indian kitchen’ remains a relentless, thankless battleground for countless women. This is a story that demands repetition - not because of creative bankruptcy, but because society still hasn’t learned its lesson. Sanya Malhotra delivers a finely modulated performance that resists melodrama, while Arati Kadav brings a quiet observational sensitivity that elevates familiar beats into something quietly devastating.

2. Superboys of Malegaon (Director: Reema Kagti)

Streaming Platform: Prime Video

In what feels like a career-best flourish, Reema Kagti crafts a film that is tender, humorous, and deeply affectionate - not just towards Malegaon’s homegrown filmmakers, but towards cinema itself. This is a love letter to storytelling driven by obsession and ingenuity rather than resources. Like the finest films about filmmaking, Superboys of Malegaon reminds us that passion, not polish, is the purest fuel for art. Not to mention, excellent performances from the cast, particularly Adarsh Gourav. Shashank Arora and Vineeth Kumar Singh.

3. Stolen (Director: Karan Tejpal)

Streaming Platform: Prime Video

Stolen is a taut, nerve-fraying thriller that reflects a society permanently teetering on the edge of hysteria. While ostensibly about a missing child, the film’s real subject is the frightening speed with which truth collapses in the face of paranoia, misinformation, and mob morality. It's slightly too-neat resolution may blunt the final blow, but the film’s cumulative impact remains chilling. Anchored by strong performances from Abhishek Banerjee and Mia Maelzer, and an unflinching realism, Stolen leaves you shaken, unsettled, and uncomfortably alert.

4. Dhadak 2 (Director: Shazia Iqbal)

Streaming Platform: Netflix

Dhadak 2 may not match the raw, uncompromising fury of Pariyerum Perumal, but within the constraints of mainstream Hindi cinema, it is a courageous step forward. It refuses to flatten caste into metaphor, grants its female protagonist real agency, and allows its politics to coexist with its romance. Flawed yet necessary, it is one of the rare remakes that earns both its emotional beats and its ideological stance.

5. Jugnuma: The Fable (Director: Raam Reddy)

Streaming Platform: Not Available for Streaming Yet

Jugnuma is not designed for passive consumption. Its deliberate pacing, dense symbolism, and refusal to offer easy answers can be alienating for some. But for viewers willing to surrender to Raam Reddy’s singular and surreal vision, the film unfolds into something hypnotic and deeply immersive with a stellar performance from Manoj Bajpayee. A rare cinematic experience that trusts ambiguity as a strength, Jugnuma lingers in the mind long after the screen goes dark.

6. Homebound (Director: Neeraj Ghaywan)

Streaming Platform: Netflix

With searing performances from Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa, Homebound is never meant to be an easy watch - because lived reality rarely is. Neeraj Ghaywan crafts a film that is intimate in scale yet vast in implication, a (real-life inspired) story of two friends that quietly stands in for millions pushed to the margins. It confronts us with uncomfortable questions about belonging, privilege, dignity, and survival in a country that routinely fails its most vulnerable. A searing critique and a quiet elegy rolled into one. Year-Ender 2025: From Shahid Kapoor in ‘Deva’ to Ranveer Singh in ‘Dhurandar’, 13 Best Performances From Bollywood That Stunned Us This Year.

7. Nishaanchi 2 (Director: Anurag Kashyap)

Streaming Platform: Prime Video

Nishaanchi 2 may have been unceremoniously dumped straight to OTT, and yes, it works best when viewed as a narrative extension of its indulgent yet supremely performative first part, and yes, the material would have arguably been better served as a full-fledged mini-series. That caveat aside, this sequel still stands among Anurag Kashyap’s stronger works in recent times: a bruising relationship saga set against a world of crime that is immersive, intense and quietly devastating, with a powerful title-card reveal in the end. Performances are uniformly strong, from debutants Aaishvary Thackeray, Vedika Pinto and Erika Jason to seasoned actors Kumud Mishra and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. Yet the undisputed show-stealer remains Monika Panwar, whose commanding presence cements her status as the MVP of 2025.

8. The Great Shamsuddin Family (Director: Anusha Rizvi)

Streaming Platform: JioHotstar

At a time when Indian Muslims are relentlessly targeted both online and offline, Anusha Rizvi returns with a deceptively light-hearted dramedy that gradually reveals its emotional and political depth. Centred on an eccentric family brought together by circumstance rather than occasion, the film gently unpacks how today’s socio-political climate seeps into everyday decisions, relationships, and anxieties. Buoyed by uniformly excellent performances, it balances humour and melancholy with remarkable assurance.

Disclaimer: While the film is deeply admired here, it is important to acknowledge the #MeToo allegations against its producer, Mahmood Farooqui. Appreciation of the work does not negate the need for accountability, and one hopes the survivor receives justice.

9. Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders (Director: Honey Trehan)

Streaming Platform: Netflix

More than just a meticulously staged whodunnit, Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders is a simmering indictment of privilege, power, and institutional decay. Nawazuddin Siddiqui anchors the film with quiet authority, while Honey Trehan’s assured direction ensures that the social commentary never overwhelms the genre pleasures. We can surely have more of Jatil Yadav on Netflix!

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 24, 2025 10:16 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).