Plot
Aditya, played by Anand Deverakonda, is a soft-natured, middle-class youngster from Wanaparthy who travels to London for higher studies. A budding filmmaker, he carries his family’s expectations along with his personal creative ambitions.
In London, Aditya meets Kadali, portrayed by Vaishnavi Chaitanya. Their unusual connection gradually develops into a relationship shaped by affection, awkwardness, arguments, vulnerability and emotional uncertainty.
The film follows them through ordinary moments rather than building towards a conventional romantic conflict. Long conversations, unexpected laughter, periods of silence and disagreements become the foundation of their relationship.
As their bond becomes increasingly complicated, Aditya must understand Kadali’s pain while deciding how love fits into his plans for education, filmmaking and his family’s future.
Overview
Epic – The First Semester is a direct continuation of Aditya Hasan’s popular 2024 web series 90’s – A Middle Class Biopic. The film retains the series’ interest in middle-class family life while expanding the story to London.
Instead of presenting love through grand gestures, Hasan focuses on the fragments that make a relationship feel real. The film functions like a scrapbook containing intimate conversations, minor arguments, familiar songs and moments that appear ordinary until they become memories.
The airport farewell effectively establishes this emotional tone. Aditya’s parents repeatedly offer instructions while quietly struggling to accept their son’s departure. The scene captures the tenderness and anxiety surrounding a small-town youngster leaving home for the first time.
The film feels deeply personal, particularly in details connected to Aditya’s filmmaking ambitions. A clapboard carrying the word Epic and the screenplay he develops suggest that Hasan has placed elements of his creative journey into the character.
Performances
Vaishnavi Chaitanya gives the film its emotional unpredictability. Kadali is affectionate, impulsive, vulnerable and occasionally difficult, but the performance prevents her from being reduced to a single personality trait.
Vaishnavi keeps the relationship alive even when the screenplay slows down. She presents Kadali’s contradictions naturally and makes viewers curious about how the character will respond to each emotional situation.
Anand Deverakonda adopts a gentler style than the intensity-driven performance he delivered in Baby. His quieter scenes work well, particularly when Aditya observes his family or tries to understand Kadali without speaking.
However, Anand occasionally overplays Aditya’s shyness. A scene following an important moment between the couple captures the awkwardness of new intimacy, but the reaction feels performed rather than completely natural.
Sivaji delivers some of the film’s most moving moments as Aditya’s father. His silent visit to his son’s empty room and a later conversation involving money, sacrifice and the future carry genuine emotional weight. Kalyan Shankar provides effective comic relief as Aditya’s friend, including a sequence that unexpectedly shifts from humour to emotion.
Technical aspects
Aditya Hasan’s direction is strongest when it observes intimacy without exaggeration. A scene in which Kadali talks about her back pain and asks Aditya to stay near her becomes a sensitive depiction of a young man learning to understand his partner.
The director also uses small cultural details to connect Aditya with his home. Food containers and pickles are familiar migrant-story elements, but the image of Aditya eating dinner while watching an old Venkatesh film gives his loneliness a more specific identity.
The London setting is presented as part of Aditya’s personal journey rather than merely as a glamorous foreign backdrop. Family memories and cultural references follow him, ensuring that Wanaparthy remains emotionally present throughout the film.
The room-destruction scene involving Kadali is a notable tonal misstep. Its heightened presentation briefly makes the intimate romance resemble an obsession thriller, even though later developments provide context for her behaviour.
Music
Hesham Abdul Wahab’s music finds a natural place within the story. In one charming moment, an old S.P. Balasubrahmanyam song inspires Kadali to suggest that Aditya should create their own background score because he wants to become a director.
Retro songs add nostalgia without overwhelming the narrative. The soundtrack complements the film’s collection-of-memories structure and supports its intimate emotional tone. The music works best when it grows organically from the characters’ lives instead of interrupting their conversations.
Editing
At close to two and a half hours, Epic feels stretched, particularly after Aditya and Kadali’s relationship becomes firmly established. The problem is not that the couple spends too much time talking. Their conversations are central to the film’s appeal. However, several exchanges revisit the same fears and uncertainties without producing meaningful emotional or dramatic movement.
A tighter edit could have preserved the relaxed intimacy while giving the major turning points greater force. The opening and climax are emotionally effective, but the middle act tests the audience’s patience.
Positives
- Vaishnavi Chaitanya’s layered performance
- Anand Deverakonda’s gentle screen presence
- Sivaji’s emotionally resonant father role
- Aditya Hasan’s personal storytelling voice
- Tender observation of ordinary relationship moments
- Natural use of music and retro songs
- Relatable middle-class family details
- Effective airport farewell
- Warm humour from Kalyan Shankar
Negatives
- Overlong middle portion
- Repetitive conversations
- Anand occasionally overplays Aditya’s shyness
- Kadali’s room-destruction scene feels tonally misplaced
- Some relationship conflicts lack forward movement
- Runtime weakens the emotional turning points
- The film never becomes the sweeping romance its title suggests
Analysis
Epic works because it understands that relationships are often remembered through seemingly insignificant experiences. Hasan builds the romance from glances, awkward silences, songs, food, arguments and conversations rather than relying on a conventional plot.
Vaishnavi gives Kadali the contradictions required to make this approach engaging. Anand’s restrained moments provide the relationship with sincerity, while Sivaji connects the London love story to Aditya’s family and middle-class roots.
The leisurely treatment becomes a weakness when conversations begin repeating the same emotional ideas. Yet several individual scenes remain affecting enough to preserve the film’s warmth.
Epic may not deliver a grand, sweeping romance, but it offers something smaller and more recognisable: an imperfect relationship becoming meaningful through accumulated memories.
Bottomline: Tender Memories
Rating: 3.5/5
