Euphoria Review: Keeps the Spotlight on Its First Half

Euphoria is a 2026 Telugu-language social crime drama written and directed by Gunasekhar. The film has Bhumika Chawla, Sara Arjun & Vignesh Gavireddy playing the lead roles while Gautham Vasudev Menon, Nassar, Rohith, Likhita Yalamanchali, Addala Prudhviraj, Kalpa Latha, Sai Srinika Reddy, Ashrita Vemuganti, Mathew Varghese, Aadarsh Balakrishna, Ravi Prakash, Naveena Reddy, Likith Naidu & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Kaala Bhairava, while the film is produced by Neelima Guna under Guna Handmade Films banner.
Story:
Chaitra (Sara Arjun), a young civil service aspirant, is sexually assaulted by five influential young men after being abducted from a pub. Despite the pressure, she files a case, and the group is arrested under the POCSO Act. Among them is Vikash (Vignesh), the son of a respected principal, Vindhya (Bhumika). Devastated by her son’s crime, Vindhya chooses integrity over motherly instinct and hands over the evidence needed to send him to jail.
Six years later, Vindhya secures Vikash’s release on parole, determined to reform him and set his life straight. The story follows Vikash’s transformation—or lack thereof—after prison and explores whether a mother’s struggle to redeem her son actually succeeds. It is a journey of guilt, justice, and a mother’s desperate hope for her child’s redemption.
What about on-screen performances?
Sara Arjun is the standout performer in the entire film. Kudos to her for choosing a role like this, and she performs her part with utmost sincerity and captures the pain of her character with such raw honesty that you can’t look away. Her excellent performance in the flag scene will surely leave us teary-eyed.
From the bunch of supporting actors, it is Gautham Vasudev Menon who shines as the Police Commissioner and gets most of the mass moments in the theatres. His dubbing had a few issues, but his performance is on point.
Bhumika Chawla was just about fine as Vindhya, the culprit’s mother. Her characterization is very poorly written, and as a result, her performance in the film doesn’t live upto her standards.
Vignesh Gavireddy tries hard to fit the part, but he is just passable with his acting. There is no consistency in his expressions, and his transformation in different scenes didn’t look convincing. A better-known face was needed for this particular role.
Rohith, who plays Bhumika’s husband, makes a comeback into acting, but he does not fit the role. His acting is very ordinary.
Likhita Yalamanchali & Addala Prudhviraj fail to leave a mark.
Kalpa Latha, Sai Srinika Reddy, Ashrita Vemuganti, Mathew Varghese, Aadarsh Balakrishna, Ravi Prakash, Naveena Reddy, Likith Naidu & others are okay.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Gunasekhar is definitely the need of the hour. The basic plot point involving the tragedy of a mother who chooses the law over her own heart and the exploration of the POCSO Act is refreshing and a daring attempt too.
But his screenplay is underwhelming. While the story possesses a heavy-hitting soul, the screenplay struggles to maintain the “quiet intensity” the subject demands. Though it is a bit engaging in the first half, the writing in the second half goes for a toss. The story doesn’t move forward after the interval and remains stagnant till the end. In fact, the core plot of the film is done and dusted by the interval itself. It felt like the entire second half was just stretched out to tell the climax point, and the climax is the only place where the writing actually shines a bit.
Director Gunasekhar tries a genre out of his comfort zone but doesn’t fully succeed with his presentation and narration. Though his thought looked hard-hitting on paper, the execution turned out to be very preachy and with many forced scenes. Had he tried to keep the film in a more realistic manner with free-flowing conversations, the overall result could’ve been much better.
The dialogues by Nagendra Kasi & Krishna Hari are disappointing. There are many instances where a good scene is spoiled by some unwanted lines that has traditonal wordings.
The songs by Kaala Bhairava fail to register, while his background score is good in places. There is nothing worth mentioning with the overall music.
The cinematography by Praveen K Pothan is just fine. The long shots are done well, but the lighting in a few scenes looked very off.
The edit by Prawin Pudi is not up to the mark. There are many lengthy scenes with too much lag which needed to be chopped off. Especially, the biryani scene & the crime recreation scene in the first half, along with the drinking scene between the mother and son in the latter half.
The artwork by Srinivas Kalinga and the costumes by Poojitha Tadikonda are okay.
The production values by Guna Handmade Films are adequate.
What’s Hot?
* Sara Arjun’s Performance
* Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Performance
* Decent First Half With Few Hard-Hitting Scenes
* Very Well Thought Off Climax
* Good Production Values
What’s Not?
* Bland & Boring Second Half
* Too Preachy Scenes
* Bhumika’S Characterization
* Feels Exaggerated In A Few Places
* Casting of a Few Actors
* Many Repetitive Portions
* Forgettable Songs
* Weak Dialogues
Verdict: Overall, Euphoria is a half baked social crime drama that had a decent plot on paper with a meaningful ending, but the execution and the writing do not support it to be a success at the box office. The writing favors melodrama over raw realism, and it is held back by a screenplay that lectures rather than moving us.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2.25/5
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