EPIC – First Semester hit theatres on September 11. By Friday noon, the mood in the unit had shifted from nerves to relief. The cast and crew gathered for their first press meet since release. The film, a college love story wrapped in family emotion, was already finding its audience. What followed was less a press conference and more a group of people finally exhaling.
Anand Deverakonda led with gratitude. He thanked audiences for trusting the film. The response, he said, had been strong from the very first premiere. People kept telling him the same thing: this felt like a story that could have released years from now, not one built for a quick trend. The love story lands. The family scenes land too.
For the Baby actor, the film hit close to home. He studied abroad, and Aditya's character, a young man navigating a middle-class household and the quiet weight of conversations with his father, mirrored things he had actually lived through. He brought up 90s, Aditya Hasan's earlier film, and how it had already convinced him Hasan was a serious writer. EPIC only confirmed it. Audiences, he said, are rediscovering that same voice in the dialogues now. That's what pulled him into the project in the first place, before a single frame was shot. He was glad the comedy in the first half and the emotional turn in the second half were both landing the way the team hoped.
Vaishnavi Chaitanya spoke next, and her focus was the audience reaction itself. Messages had been pouring in, she said, from people who saw themselves in Aditya and Kadali. Friends and cousins who watched with her singled out something specific: the film's honest handling of periods and PCOD. These aren't easy topics to write with sensitivity unless you have lived through them. She said every girl wants a partner who shows up during moments like that, and in this film, the boy genuinely does. That, more than anything, seems to be why women in the audience have responded so warmly.
Then came producer Suryadevara Naga Vamsi, and his comments carried a different weight. He called the response from young viewers especially strong, and confirmed a sequel is already in the works. But he wanted to be clear about why the film exists at all. As a viewer himself, he loves a good romantic comedy. He had wanted to produce one for years. When Aditya Hasan narrated this story, something clicked, and Vamsi decided almost immediately to make it. He was blunt about the risk: there was no commercial formula behind the decision. They made EPIC because they loved the story. Seeing that instinct rewarded, particularly through the response from women, was what mattered most to him. His closing message to anyone still on the fence was simple. Watch it.
Director Aditya Hasan traced the film back to real life. Both 90s and EPIC, he said, were pulled from things he had actually witnessed. But the two stories diverge in tone. 90s is a family drama. EPIC is a love story. Even the heroes are opposites: the boy in 90s starts out an extrovert, while Aditya in EPIC grows into an introvert. Hasan said he never wanted heroism to mean fighting for a girl. Sometimes it just means being thoughtful.
The film also stars MAD fame director Kalyan Shankar, Sivaji Sontineni, and Vasuki Anand. Its music is by Hesham Abdul Wahab. EPIC is Aditya Hasan's debut directorial.
