Kollywoood is set for a blockbuster 2026 with thrilling Tamil films

KOLLYWOOD will be quite busy in 2026, producing many highly-anticipated Tamil movies featuring big name stars for its myriads of faithful fans. 

Heading the list is Jana Nayagan starring Thalapathi Vijay in his final movie before he becomes a full-time politician. Director H Vinoth helms this big budget political thriller with an ensemble cast featuring some big names in the industry, including Pooja Hegde and Bobby Deol. Rumour has it that there will be mind-blowing action sequences. The film is sheduled to release this week. 

Another movie that will release mid-January is the Sivakarthikeyan film, Parasakthi. It's a political historical drama directed by ace female director Sudha Kongara. The film is based on the real-life anti-Hindi tensions in Tamil Nadu in 1965. The movie has generated a buzz for its subject matter.

Jailer was a box office success for superstar Rajnikanth and there is no stopping this charismatic star as he appears in Jailer 2 as the iconic Tiger Muthuvel Pandian, the role he played in the original and which suited him rather well. The film is touted as an action-comedy and is directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. Jailer 2 will be released in June.

Sardar 2, the eagerly-awaited sequel to the successful 2022 spy-thriller Sardar, which stars Karthi Sivakumar, SJ Suryah, Malavika Mohanan, Ashika Ranganath and Rajisha Vijayan will be released this month. Sivakumar is expected to play a dual role in this action-packed film, directed by PS Mithran.

Suriya Sivakumar, Karthi's brother, will appear in Vaadivaasal, which is based on the traditional Tamil sport: Jalikattu that deals with bull-training. This movie, directed by Vetrimaaran, has been in production for a while and it will prove why Suriya is an actor par excellence. 

Actor Silambarasan stars in Arasan, the same setting as the movie Vada Chennai. Singer Andrea Jeremiah, who is also an accomplished actress, is the female lead.

Sigma is a movie that is closely being watched as it features Thalapathi Vijay’s son, Jason Sanjay, as a debut director. It is an action-drama set for release in February. 

It looks like Suriya Vijaykumar is going to be quite busy this year with another movie titled Karuppu releasing during the Tamil festival of Pongal.

Indian 2 was partially filmed in South Africa and I hope that Indian 3, which will release in 2026 featuring Kamal Haasan as the vigilante Senapathy, was also filmed in SA. 

Ajay Dhishan, who made a grand entrance in the 2025 supernatural crime thriller Maargan, is set to play the lead in in the upcoming bilingual romance movie Pookie, while Abishan Jeevinth, who will set the box office alight in his debut directorial movie Tourist Family, will move in front of the camera to feature in a romantic comedy alongside Malayalam actress Anaswara Rajan.

Anjali Sivaraman, known for her lead role in the 2025 coming-of-age drama Bad Girl, will tackle difficult and meaningful roles in movies that will hopefully define her acting prowess and cement her place as a sought after heroine.

It seems that Kollywood movie fans will be spoilt for choice in 2026 - not forgetting the other small, low-budget movies that will also release to give some of the big budget films a run for their money.

Michael Lachimiah is an MC. He has worked in community radio and on internet radio platforms.

THE POST