The Girlfriend

2h 18m
- Drama
- Romance

Release Date: Dec 5, 2025 | Limited

A young woman explores love, compatibility and self-discovery during college, experiencing relationship complexities and personal growth.

Releases

Original Release | Nov 7, 2025

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Director & Top Cast

Rahul Ravindran
Director

Rashmika Mandanna
Bhooma 'Bhoo' Devi

Rahul Ravindran
Professor Sudheer

Rohini
Vikram's mother

Anu Emmanuel
Durga

Rao Ramesh
Bhooma's father

Dheekshith Shetty

Vikram 'Vicky'

Gayatri Bhargavi

Actor

Mahaboob Basha

Senior student

Koushik Mahata

Actor

Sanjana Vij

Actor

Harini Rao

Actor

Mahaadev

Actor

Vaanya Aggarwal

Single Girl 2

Aswitha Sura

Actor

Shanya Kasala

Child Vidya

Arpan Thakur

Single Girl 1

Veedhi Pandu Ranga Rao

Actor

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital,Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: India

Language: Telugu,Hindi,Tamil,Kannada,Malayalam

Summaries

Plot Summary

The moment anybody saw Bhooma's (Rashmika Mandanna) body language, the way she walked, the way she spoke (or rather whispered) or the way she ate, they realized that she had an introverted and submissive personality. She had come to the university to pursue a master's in literature, and she just wanted to focus on that. Prof Sudheer is the HoD of her department.In flashback sequence, Bhooma's mother had passed away while giving birth to her, and she was brought up by her father (Rao Ramesh). One time, Bhooma spent a weekend at her aunt's place, and she really enjoyed being with her cousin sister. Bhooma's father got angry at her because she enjoyed her time without him, and he told her to go and stay at her aunt's place if she enjoyed her time there so much. She felt guilty for enjoying her time in the absence of her father. She stopped having fun altogether, as if it was a sin to do that.Bhooma never lived her life on her own terms, and so she didn't know what real freedom was. Being a woman in a patriarchal society, she believed that that was how morally upright women had to be. She had always wanted to write, but she never had the confidence to do so. Bhooma's father loved his daughter, and he didn't know how his behavior had hampered her personality, her confidence, and the damage it had done to her self-esteem.Vikram (Dheekshith Shetty) was one of the most popular guys in college. All the girls aspired to date him, and all the guys wanted to hang out with him. He might have been a talented human being, and obviously he was good-looking too, but he was the most regressive and patriarchal human being one could ever come across. A girl named Durga (Anu Emmanuel) got infatuated with him, and she told him that she liked him.Durga was a talented and beautiful girl. Vikram made it pretty clear to Durga that she was not the kind of girl he wanted to be with. She apparently didn't fit the image he had in his mind of a girl who could be his wife. Then, one day Vikram saw Bhooma, and he was smitten by her. She was subdued and obedient, and that was exactly what he was looking for. Bhooma was out with a friend on a scooter when they were hit by a car. Vikram was out with his friends, and he saw this and intervened. He hit the car driver when he misbehaved with Bhooma. The car driver turned out to be a cop, and the police picked up the boys the next day and thrashed them badly. Bhooma went to visit Vikram in his room. Vikram falls in love with Bhooma.Vikram pursued Bhooma for a while and soon they became good friends. Vikram was an extremely insecure person, and he wanted to control the life of his partner. Vikram invited Bhooma to watch a movie in his room late at night. He literally forced himself on Bhooma and kissed her and presumed that it was his right to express his feelings in that manner. She was not able to do anything at that moment, because she felt numb, and she just couldn't think of how to react. Vikram presumed that they were in a relationship from the very next day, and Bhooma just kept doing whatever he told her.Bhooma, as a person, was never taught to voice her opinions. She was oppressed by her father, and she didn't know how to prioritize her feelings. She was so used to that toxic behavior that with time she surrendered to her circumstances and believed that whatever Vikram had done was because he loved her. Vikram didn't love her, and he merely liked the idea of being with a woman like her. He didn't care about her, and he didn't even bother to ask her what she wanted. He stopped her from meeting her male friends, as he was an insecure person. She couldn't even blink an eye without his approval, and he gas-lighted her to such an extent that she never realized he was a toxic man.Durga and Bhooma met during college theater practice. Durga didn't talk to Bhooma at first, because she was jealous that she was dating Vikram, but then eventually she realized that Bhooma was an extremely sweet and innocent person. With Durga's help Bhooma gives an outstanding performance on stage. But Vikram does not appreciate it and says that boys were looking at her cleavage during her performance. He bars Bhooma from going on stage ever again.It was Durga who saw, at first, what Bhooma was going through. She told her quite bluntly that she should break up with Vikram, because he didn't deserve her. She told her that he just wanted to take control of her life, and he didn't care if she was happy or not.That man didn't eat if Bhooma didn't come to the canteen and he didn't like it if she went out with her friends. Bhooma had to literally take permission from him if she wanted to go out with her friends, and most of the time she was so scared of his reaction that she didn't make any plans in the first place.Vikram took Bhooma to his hometown in Nasik to meet his mother, Bhooma realized what her future would look like if she ended up with a man like that.Vikram's mother (Rohini Molleti) never spoke a word to anybody because of the mental torture she had gone through all her life. Her husband used to mistreat her, and she had a habit of going inside the kitchen the moment guests came to her house. She was suffering from extreme PTSD and most probably other mental health disorders too. Vikram didn't see that. He believed that his mother was an ideal wife, a perfect woman who worked day and night like a slave. In fact, she took Vikram's shoes the moment he took them off and kept them in the shoe rack. Bhooma found it extremely weird, as she was his mother, and she was probably doing it as a reflex because of the physical abuse she had experienced in the past.Bhooma saw herself in Vikram's mother, and she decided to tell Vikram that she didn't want to be with him. In fact, she never loved him, because she never got an opportunity to understand what she felt for him. And obviously she didn't have a habit of prioritizing herself before anybody else, and so people walked all over her, and she went on as if it was the most natural thing to do.Bhooma, after coming back from Vikram's house, tried to tell him that she didn't want to be with him. But she wasn't able to say it, as she was too intimidated by him. All hell broke loose when Bhooma's father arrived at her hostel and found Vikram in her room. Her father and Vikram had a huge argument, and things got really out of hand. Bhooma's father wanted to get her terminated from college and take her back with him.But where there were such regressive and pathetic men, there were also people like Professor Sudheer (Rahul Ravindran), who were very progressive and egalitarian in their approach. Prof. Sudheer told Bhooma's father that his daughter was an adult, and she was capable of making her own choices. Bhooma's father had no choice but to go back, raging in anger.Vikram asks Bhooma to give up her studies and to marry him as according to him that is the only course of action forward. It was then that Bhooma decided that she needed to part ways with Vikram, as she was not able to keep up with the charade. And moreover, she didn't have any feelings for him.Bhooma told Vikram that she no longer wished to be with him. Vikram made it the purpose of his life to ruin Bhooma's life. He questioned her character, hurled all kinds of abuse at her, and in fact went and painted all kinds of lewd things on her hostel room door. Bhooma was angry as she felt tortured, and she realized that there was no point in hiding and being scared of a man like him.During the college farewell function, Bhooma went on stage and told the world what she had done and why Vikram was adamant about ruining her life. She dared him in front of the entire college to do anything to her. She made it very clear that she had not done anything wrong, and even if she did, he didn't have the right to harass her.Bhooma went on to complete her master's, and soon she got an amazing job. She never left her father, because she knew that she had to be better than him. She knew that if she left him and took out her anger on him, there would be no difference between them. After a point in time, she went to work abroad, and she finally found the courage to write and make her work public. Bhooma knew that she didn't need a man to tell her what choices she should make. She wanted to be with a man who understood her and treated her like an equal. And she was very content and happy even if she didn't find one.