Epic – First Semester (2026): Hesham Abdul Wahab’s Melodies Outlast the Drift
A phone call home from a cramped London flat, a mother’s voice thinning into static while her son counts pounds he does not have, that is where Epic – First Semester puts its whole heart. It stays there, humming Hesham Abdul Wahab’s melodies, while the plot circles the same emotional block for 150 minutes.
Anand Deverakonda Plays Homesick Without the Whine
He settles Aditya into London’s small indignities, shared kitchens, budget arithmetic, a face that never quite relaxes. His chemistry with Vaishnavi Chaitanya carries the flatmate stretch, and he holds the family-pressure phone calls with restraint instead of volume. It is a likable turn, though hardly a demanding one.
Aditya Haasan Knows Student Life, Not Dramatic Tension
Haasan captures Indian student life abroad honestly, corridors, kitchens, money anxiety, the specific shame of asking home for more. What he cannot do is build pressure, so the linear screenplay stops advancing after the interval. Indian Express called it a “terribly slow film with a deliberately incomplete end, ” stopping at 2 out of 5.
The London Kitchen Scenes Carry What the Plot Will Not
The romance works when it stays small and physical: two flatmates sharing a kitchen, comparing test notes, nursing a loneliness neither names. Kadali is driven; Aditya drifts. That friction is the film’s best engine.
The turning points arrive by coincidence rather than choice. Parent phone calls interrupt every tender beat, which is the point, but the same interruption repeats five times. By the interval the couple is circling one argument about futures, funds and permission.
Coming-of-age romance needs an arc; this one bends back on itself. Hesham Abdul Wahab’s songs do the emotional work the screenplay will not, and they are lovely and load-bearing. I found the parent calls genuinely affecting even when the film around them sagged.
Sivaji and Vasuki Give the Film Its Only Real Stakes
Sivaji’s father is a one-note engine of expectation; he plays that note cleanly, and the casting signals exactly how little room the parents get. Vasuki’s mother carries the warmer family scenes, and her low-grade worry gives the London stretch its weight. Kalyan Shankar’s cameo is sharper than most of the drama around it.
Slow-burn romances set abroad keep arriving, and our Telugu Drama reviews gather the ones that land with more conviction than this one.
Filmfare’s 2/5 and IMDb’s 6.6 Agree on the Same Problem
Audiences split where critics did: chemistry praised, the drag and unfinished ending punished. Filmfare matched Indian Express at 2 out of 5, and IMDb’s 6.6 sits polite rather than warm. THR India’s “Epic tries to engage us with numerous questions, but the only one Kairam is left asking is ‘Why?'” sums it up.
Go for the mood, the soundtrack and two leads worth watching; skip if you need a story that closes. The UK student-life texture is the one thing here you will not find elsewhere in Telugu cinema this year. It plays best on streaming, where the sluggish second half costs you only a pause.
The same quiet study of ordinary people under pressure runs through Last Man review.
Epic – First Semester is a 2.5/5 mood piece, stream it for Hesham Abdul Wahab’s songs, not for the resolution it refuses to write.
For a film where a director’s craft holds while the plotting slips away, Haiwaan verdict makes a fitting companion piece.
Ankit Jaiswal is the Chief Author, covering Indian cinema and OTT releases with honest, no-filler criticism. An SEO strategist by background, he brings a research-driven approach to film writing, cutting through hype to tell you exactly what's worth your time.
