As 2025 draws to a close, SonyLIV has solidified its reputation as the premium home for prestige drama. Yes, the overall year has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride for the streaming platform. But it closed the year with not one but two big wins.
The platform’s December performance was punctuated by two flagship releases that underscore its commitment to high-stakes, realistic storytelling. The first was the Tamil crime thriller Kuttram Purindhavan, and the second was the evocative sports drama Real Kashmir Football Club.
Kuttram Purindhavan
Premiering on 5 December 2025, this Tamil crime thriller became one of the most-discussed shows of the month. Starring Pasupathy, Vidarth, and Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli, it follows a former government pharmacist caught in a web of secrets after a child’s disappearance.
Viewers showered praise on Pasupathy, who delivered a career-defining performance in this gem of a show. His work was noted for its gritty, unglamorous depiction of small-town moral rot. Yes, some did point out the slow pacing in the initial episodes, but the final three episodes were widely praised as a masterclass in suspense, delivering a powerful emotional payoff along the way.
Real Kashmir Football Club
Released on 9 December 2025, this series (led by Manav Kaul and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) dramatises the true-life journey of the founders of the valley’s most iconic football club.
Maintaining a safe distance from the region’s touristy depictions, the makers focused more on muddy pitches and the everyday energy of the area. Unlike high-octane Bollywood sports films, this was noted for being a bottom-to-top construction story.
Despite all its strengths, including powerful work from its leading performers, some football enthusiasts felt the show leaned too heavily into fictionalised clichés rather than the gritty logistical reality found in the 2019 BBC documentary on the same club.
SonyLIV ended 2025 by doubling down on sophisticated, slow-burn content. While competitors like Netflix and JioHotstar focused on star-led thrillers (such as Madhuri Dixit’s Mrs. Deshpande and Stranger Things on Netflix), SonyLIV was able to capture the intellectual viewer market.
Kuttram Purindhavan proved that regional content could carry national weight, while Real Kashmir Football Club showed that SonyLIV is willing to take risks on quiet, atmospheric dramas that are far better from so-called sigma-alpha tropes. Stay tuned for more updates.