Anand Deverakonda
Aditya
Epic - First Semester
“An unfinished story.”
2026
2h 30m
NR · TeluguDirector: Aditya Hasan
Overview
Far from home, Aditya wrestles with family expectations, cultural differences and loneliness while studying in London – until he meets the lively Kadali.
Cast
9 people
Reviews
3 min readThere is an honest, bruised smallness at the center of Epic - First Semester that keeps fighting against its own title and its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. Making his feature debut after the success of his web series 90s - A Middle Class Biopic, writer-director Aditya Hasan brings his keen eye for domestic anxieties to a gray, chilly London, where a young Telugu student tries to figure out who he is when nobody from home is watching. When the movie stays small—tracking the quiet panic of a middle-class kid calculating the emotional debt he owes his parents, it is perceptive and tender, though latestnetflix.com's read is that those fragile, observational pleasures get swallowed whole by a structural conceit that mistakes withholding an ending for having something larger to say.
The film reunites Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya, the pairing whose raw, abrasive turn in the Telugu hit Baby set immediate expectations for another round of youthful heartache. Here, the register is softer, at least at first. Deverakonda plays a sheltered student sent to the UK under the heavy weight of middle-class family obligations, adrift in cultural displacement and homesick solitude until he crosses paths with Chaitanya’s lively Kadali.
Hasan understands the specific texture of overseas student life: the cramped rooms, the forced bravado on phone calls back home to parents (with Sivaji Sontineni and Vasuki Anand grounding the generational divide), and the intoxicating relief of finding someone who speaks your language, both literally and emotionally.
Audience Opinions
Broad evidence
Audience 5.3/10
"A heartfelt but uneven coming-of-age drama whose relatable spark is weighed down by a sluggish pace, though it still delivers touching moments of young romance."
Aditya Hasan's romantic drama follows Rohan, a middle-class student sent abroad under heavy family expectations who must navigate romance, identity, and adulthood. The emotional depth and the chemistry between Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya land warmly, but the rhythm divides opinion: viewers and critics note that the story frequently stalls in the middle, leaving the journey feeling dragged out and only partly realized.
What viewers praise
- Relatable Emotional Core The central journey captures genuine identity struggles and honest reflections on growing up under family pressure.
- Charming Lead Dynamics The chemistry between Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya delivers poetic, entertaining romantic beats.
Common complaints
- Sluggish Middle Stretch The pacing falters badly in the second act, with scenes that feel stretched, silly, and unconvincing.
- Incomplete Arc The promising premise leaves narrative threads unresolved, so the final takeaway feels uneven.
Recommended for
Fans of Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya College romances centered on overseas student life Anyone patient with slow-burning, poetic coming-of-age stories
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsInside Epic - First Semester: Director Guarantees, Bold Scene Concerns, and Streaming Backlash
The Journey of Epic - First Semester
Director Aditya Hasan’s Telugu drama Epic - First Semester entered production backed by notable anticipation, reuniting the lead pairing of Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya,. Listed with a September 11, 2026 release date, the film’s cast also includes Sivaji Sontineni, Vasuki Anand, and Master Rohan Roy. The production frames an overseas student dilemma against a contemporary coming-of-age romance,. According to Moviefone, the storyline tracks a student living in London who grapples with cultural differences, family pressures, and loneliness before crossing paths with a lively companion named Kadali. Meanwhile, character outlines on IMDb describe the protagonist as Rohan, a middle-class student who moves abroad to satisfy parental expectations while exploring personal identity, love, and emotional growth. Composer Hesham Abdul Wahab provided the musical backdrop for the project's promotional rollout.
Hesitations and Guarantees Behind the Camera
The road to production involved sensitive negotiations between the filmmaker and his lead actress regarding the project's intimate scenes. As reported by The Indian Express, Aditya Hasan disclosed that Vaishnavi Chaitanya had serious reservations regarding the "bold scenes" in the script before agreeing to join the cast. To ease her concerns, Hasan made a personal commitment to the performer, promising that he would stand firmly beside her and take full responsibility if any public backlash followed the film's release. That assurance helped secure Chaitanya’s participation, marking an important hurdle cleared during pre-production.
Digital Debut and Streaming Backlash
Despite Hasan’s earlier success with his debut project 90s, the film encountered immediate friction upon reaching home viewers. Following its streaming debut on Netflix, Epic became the target of severe online trolling, according to M9 News. Instead of delivering the heartwarming narrative audiences had hoped for, the digital release sparked heavy criticism on social media targeting the screenplay, a lack of emotional depth, and absent chemistry between Deverakonda and Chaitanya. As latestnetflix.com observes, the severe social media blowback against Epic - First Semester demonstrates how quickly streaming scrutiny can dismantle audience goodwill when a romance fails to connect.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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