Chennai: The Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards 2025 is set to return on July 3, 2026, in Chennai, celebrating excellence in Tamil cinema across acting, direction, writing, music, technical craftsmanship, production and emerging talent. This year’s edition assumes added significance as it forms part of Vikatan’s 100th-year celebrations.
Backed by Vikatan’s longstanding association with Tamil cinema and the credibility of the widely followed Vikatan Cinema Score, the awards have established themselves as one of the industry’s most respected recognitions. Over the years, the platform has honoured several leading names from the film fraternity, including Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Karthi, Vijay Sethupathi, Trisha Krishnan, Taapsee Pannu, Sai Pallavi, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vetrimaaran, Mari Selvaraj and Yogi Babu.
The 2025 edition recognised achievements across 25 competitive categories. ‘Bison Kaalamaadan’ won Best Film, while Ram was named Best Director for Paranthu Po. Pradeep Ranganathan received the Best Actor award for Dragon and Dude, and Mamitha Baiju won Best Actress for Dude.
Among the technical honours, Santhosh Narayanan was awarded Best Music Composer (Songs) for Retro and Thalaivan Thalaivi, while GV Prakash Kumar won Best Background Music for Veera Dheera Sooran: Part 2 and Good Bad Ugly. Niketh Bommi was recognised as Best Cinematographer, and Nagooran Ramachandran received the Best Editor award.
In the performance categories, Sarathkumar and Andrea were honoured as Best Villain (Male) and Best Villain (Female) respectively, while Samuthirakani and Meetha Raghunath won the supporting actor awards. Harshath Khan was named Best Comedian, and Mithul Ryan received the Best Child Artist honour.
The awards also recognised emerging talent, with Abishan Jeevinth (Tourist Family) and Suresh Rajakumari (Sirai) sharing the Best Debut Director honour. L K Akshay Kumar won Best Debut Actor, while Bhagyashri Borse was named Best Debut Actress.
Other key winners included Dhinakaran Sivalingam for Best Story, Keerthiswaran for Best Screenplay, Sri Ganesh for Best Dialogue, and Sarathi for Best Lyricist. Naangal won Best Crew, while Dragon was recognised as the Best Entertaining Film. Sai Abhyankkar received the Find of the Year award.
Special honours included Rishab Shetty, Keerthy Suresh and Dulquer Salmaan, who were recognised as South Indian Icons.
The Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards 2025 is title-sponsored by Sathya Agencies and powered by Thangamayil Jewellery, Aachi Masala and Elephantine, with Chennai Amirtha Logistics College as co-powered sponsor.
The event is further supported by VinFast as Associate Sponsor, Geetham Veg Restaurant as Food Partner, Apollo Hospitals as Health Partner, VELS Group of Institutions and Captsee as Special Partners, Sree Visalam Chit Fund Ltd as Savings Partner, Tamil Paal as Dairy Partner, Mudra OOH as Metro Partner, Next Advertising Solutions as Outdoor Partner, Skyrams Outdoor Advertising as DOOH Partner and AGS Cinemas as Multiplex Partner.
The awards ceremony will be telecast on Vijay TV, with exclusive digital coverage across Vikatan’s platforms. As part of Vikatan’s centenary celebrations, the event aims to honour the creative talent and storytelling that continue to shape the future of Tamil cinema.
