The Film Critics Guild has announced the winners of the Critics’ Choice Awards 2025. A newly introduced category this year, Best Documentary, honoured exceptional feature-length documentary films, with Nocturnes taking home the award for its powerful storytelling.
In the Feature Films segment, All We Imagine As Light won Best Feature Film, recognised for its compelling narrative and artistic excellence. Diljit Dosanjh earned Best Actor for his remarkable performance in Amar Singh Chamkila. Accepting the award for Best Actor in a Feature Film for Amar Singh Chamkila, Diljit Dosanjh expressed his heartfelt gratitude,stating, “Thank you to the Film Critics Guild for this award, bohot bohot shukriya for considering me worthy of this honour. I dedicate this award to Amar Singh Chamkila and to Imtiaz sir, who brought this beautiful film to life. I just had the chance to be a part of it—it was entirely Imtiaz sir’s hard work. A big thank you to the entire cast and crew of the film.”
Darshana Rajendran won Best Actress for her gripping role in Paradise. Ravi Kishan’s standout performance in Laapataa Ladies earned him Best Supporting Actor, and Kani Kusruti was awarded Best Supporting Actress for her impactful role in Girls Will Be Girls.
The Web Series category saw Poacher emerge as a major winner, securing Best Web Series. Nimisha Sajayan received Best Actress for her role in Poacher, while Barun Sobti won Best Actor for his performance in Raat Jawaan Hai.
In Short Films, Obur dominated the category, winning Best Short Film along with multiple other accolades. Harish Khanna was named Best Actor for Jal Tu Jalaal Tu, while Jyoti Dogra’s performance in Taak (Tracker) earned her the Best Actress award, highlighting the remarkable talent in this space.
Check out full list of winners here:
Short Films Nominations
Category: Best Short Film
IYKYK (If You Know You Know)
Jal Tu Jalaal Tu
Obur: Winner
Taak (Tracker)
Virundhu (The Feast)
Category: Best Director
Bonita Rajpurohit for “IYKYK (If You Know You Know”
Prateek Vats for “Jal Tu Jalaal Tu”
Faraz Ali “Obur”: Winner
Ajai Vishwanath “Starch”
Udit Khurana “Taak (Tracker)”
Category: Best Actor
Kayan Dadyburjor for “Halfway”
Kumar Chheda for “Halfway”
Harish Khanna for “Jal Tu Jalaal Tu”: Winner
Aaqib Nazir Dinda for “Obur”
George Vijay for “Virundhu (The Feast)”
Category: Best Actress
Menuka Pradhan for “Crossing Borders”
Sheeba Chaddha for “Night Queen”
Indu Sharma for “Riha (Unlocked)”
Gayatri Patel Bahl for “Strach”
Jyoti Dogra for “Taak (Tracker)”: Winner
Category: Best Writing
Bonita Rajpurohit for “IYKYK (If You Know You Know)”
Vindhya Gupta for “Jooyein (Lice)”
Faraz Ali for “Obur”: Winner
Akhil Lotlikar, Tanmay Gemini for “The Slow Train”
Rishi Chandna, Rahul Srivastava for “Virundhu (The Feast)”
Category: Best Cinematography
Kartik Parmar for “Bhed Bakri Bhoot (Gote Goat Ghost)”
Appu Prabhakar for “Crossing Borders”
Avinash Arun Dhaware for “Monsoon Walk”
Anand Bansal for “Obur”: Winner
Tarkash Mehta for “Taak (Tracker)”
Documentary Nominations
Against the Tide
And, Towards Happy Alleys
Nocturnes: Winner
Rhythm of a Flower (Phool Ka Channd)
The Midwife’s Confession
Web Series Nominations
Category: Best Web Series
Brinda
Freedom at Midnight
Killer Soup
Poacher: Winner
Raat Jawaan Hai
Category: Best Director
Surya Manoj Vangala for “Brinda”
Nikkhil Advani for “Freedom at Midnight”
Abhishek Chaubey for “Killer Soup”
Richie Mehta for “Poacher”: Winner
Sumeet Vyas for “Raat Jawaan Hai”
Category: Best Actor
Mihir Godbole for “Lampan”
Ravi Kishan for “Maamla Legal Hai”
Barun Sobti for “Raat Jawaan Hai“: Winner
Kay Kay Menon for “Shekhar Home”
Tahir Raj Bhasin for “Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein S2”
Category: Best Actress
Swastika Mukherjee for “Bijoya”
Trisha Krishnan for “Brinda”
Konkona Sen Sharma for “Killer Soup”
Nimisha Sajayan for “Poacher”: Winner
Anjali Anand for “Raat Jawaan Hai”
Category: Best Supporting Actor
Rajesh Tailang for “Bandish Bandits S2”
Rajendra Chawla for “Freedom at Midnight”
Rajesh Khattar for “Murder in Mahim”
Faisal Malik for “Panchayat S3”
Dibyendu Bhattacharya for “Poacher”: Winner
Category: Best Supporting Actress
Divya Dutta for “Bandish Bandits S2”
Nidhi Bisht for “Maamla Legal Hai”
Sai Tamhankar for “Manvat Murders”
Kani Kusruti for “Poacher”: Winner
Priya Bapat for “Raat Jawaan Hai”
Category: Best Writing
Anand Tiwari, Atmika Didwania, Karan Singh Tyagi for “Bandish Bandits S2”
Surya Manoj Vangala, Padmavathi Malladi, Jay Krishna for “Brinda”
Abhinandan Gupta, Gundeep Kaur, Adwitiya Kareng Das, Divy Nidhi Sharma, Revanta Sarabhai, Ethan Taylor for “Freedom at Midnight”
Richie Mehta, Gopan Chidambaran for “Poacher”: Winner
Khyati Anand Puthran for “Raat Jawaan Hai”
Feature Films Nomination
Category: Best Film
All We Imagine As Light: Winner
Amar Singh Chamkila
Family
Girls Will Be Girls
Kottukkaali (The Adamant Girl)
Laapataa Ladies
Manjummel Boys
Padatik
Paradise
Rimdoggittanga (Rapture)
Category: Best Director
Payal Kapadia for “All We Imagine As Light”: Winner
Imtiaz Ali for “Amar Singh Chamkila”
Shuchi Talati for “Girls Will Be Girls”
Chidambaram for “Manjummel Boys”
Dominic Sangma for “Rimdoggittanga (Rapture)”
Category: Best Actor
Prithviraj Sukumaran for “Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life)”
Diljit Dosanjh for “Amar Singh Chamkila”: Winner
Abhishek Bachchan for “I Want To Talk”
Soori for “Kottukkaali (The Adamant Girl)”
Chandan Sen for “Manikbabur Megh (The Cloud and the Man)”
Category: Best Actress
Kani Kusruti for “All We Imagine As Light”
Preeti Panigrahi for “Girls Will Be Girls”
Anna Ben for “Kottukkaali (The Adamant Girl)”
Darshana Rajendran for “Paradise”: Winner
Urvashi for “Ullozhukku (Undercurrent)”
Category: Best Supporting Actor
Anjan Dutt for “Chaalchitra Ekhon”
Raghav Juyal for “Kill”
Vijayaraghavan for “Kishkindha Kaandam”
Ravi Kishan for “Laapataa Ladies”: Winner
Mahendra Perera for “Paradise”
Category: Best Supporting Actress
Divya Prabha for “All We Imagine As Light”
Kani Kusruti for “Girls Will Be Girls”: Winner
Sai Abhinaya for “Kottukkaali (The Adamant Girl)”
Chhaya Kadam for “Laapataa Ladies”
Parvathy Thiruvothu for “Ullozhukku (Undercurrent)”
Category: Best Writing
Anand Ekarshi for “Aattam”: Winner
Payal Kapadia for “All We Imagine As Light”
Biplab Goswami, Sneha Desai, Divy Nidhi Sharma for “Laapataa Ladies”
Chidambaram for “Manjummel Boys”
Dominic Sangma for “Rimdoggittanga (Rapture)”
Category: Best Cinematography
Sunil K. S. for “Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life)”
Ranabir Das for “All We Imagine As Light”: Winner
Rafey Mehmood for “Kill”
Shyju Khalid for “Manjummel Boys”
Tojo Xavier for “Rimdoggittanga (Rapture)”
Category: Best Editing
Aarti Bajaj for “Amar Singh Chamkila”
Shivkumar V. Panicker for “Kill”: Winner
Vivek Harshan for “Manjummel Boys”
Srijit Mukherjee for “Padatik”
A. Sreekar Prasad for “Paradise”
Gender Sensitivity Award: ‘Girls Will Be Girls’
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