Prithviraj and Kalyani Priyadarshan break into IMDb’s most popular Indian stars of 2025

Malayalam stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Kalyani Priyadarshan have found themselves among the country’s most talked-about names on IMDb. In its year-end list of India’s most popular actors and directors of 2025, IMDb has placed several Malayalam talents alongside leading Bollywood personalities.

Actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran secured the fifth spot among popular directors, while Kalyani Priyadarshan reached seventh place in the actors’ category. Prithviraj earned his position for directing ‘L2: Empuraan’, starring Mohanlal. Among debut directors, Dominic Arun, who made ‘Lokah: Chapter One – Chandra’, ranked eighth. Notably, of the three South Indian films featured in the overall list, two are Malayalam titles.

The directors’ chart was topped by Mohit Suri for the romantic comedy-drama ‘Saiyaara’. Aryan Khan, filmmaker of ‘Ba***ds of Bollywood’ and son of Shah Rukh Khan, took second place, while Lokesh Kanagaraj secured the third spot for Vijay’s ‘Coolie’. The list also features Anurag Kashyap, R. K. Prasanna, Anurag Basu, Laxman Utekar, and Neeraj Ghaywan.

In the actors’ list, Ahaan Panday and Aneeth Padda claimed the top two positions following their breakout performances in ‘Saiyaara’. Aamir Khan ranked third, Lakshya placed fifth, and Rashmika Mandanna came in sixth. Malayalam’s Kalyani Priyadarshan secured the seventh spot, boosted by the strong reception to ‘Lokah’, in which she played the lead.

Triptii Dimri and Rukmini Vasanth occupied the eighth and ninth positions, while Rishab Shetty — director and star of ‘Kantara: A Legend – Chapter One’ — rounded off the top ten.