Like the previous years, the Chandanavana (Sandalwood) film industry attracted a lot of new faces. A few have clicked, but others could not sail through, as the films also did not do well.
The striking faces of the year are –
Rachana Rai from The Devil;
Anusha, Sanjana Dos, and Rakshit Nag from Congratulations Brother;
Kireeti from Junior;
Sandhya Arakere from Su from So;
Manisha Kandakur from Brat;
Priyanka Kumar from Rudra Garuda Purana;
Rashmitha from Arasayyana Prema Prasanga;
Dushyanth from Gatha Vaibhava;
Rajani Bharadwaj from Choo Mantar and GST;
Ponnu Aswathy from Bhuvanam Gaganam;
Priya Prakash Varrier from Vishnu Priya;
Ashwini Polepelli from Apple Cut;
Shithil Shetty from Veera Chandrahasa;
Chandan Shetty, as a hero from Soothradaari;
Mouna Guddemane from Kuladalli Kilyavudo;
Atharva Prakash and D. Sathyaprakash from X & Y;
Ammayra Goswami from Tapassi;
Kavya Shaiva from Kothalwadi;
Vinay Kumar Vaidhyanathan as hero and director;
Prakriti Prasad and Risha Gowda from Austin Na Mahamouna;
Raghu Raja Nanda from Rona;
Kaustuba Mani from 45; and others.
Nearly 150 new directors, many cinematographers, and a few music directors also entered the KFI in 2025, but the Su from So director and actor JP Thuminadu and actor Shaneel Gautham stood out in the minds of the audiences and also set a trend in KFI.