It stars Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey while Rahul Ramakrishna, Jia Sharma, Sanjay Swaroop, Gopinath Bhat, Kamal Kamaraju and Kanchana appear in supporting roles.

The film tells the story of Arjun Reddy Deshmukh (Deverakonda), a wealthy high-functioning alcoholic surgeon with anger management problems.

Arjun is on a self-destructive path after the marriage of his girlfriend Preethi Shetty (Pandey); the film focuses on his downfall and subsequent resurgence.

After an inter-college football match gone wrong when Arjun quarrels with the opponent team, the dean instructs him to either apologize or to part ways with the college.

Arjun and his friend Shiva enter a junior classroom amidst a class and the former intimidates them against going after Preethi, asserting that she belongs to him.

Initially uneasy about his conduct, Preethi finds comfort in a relationship with Arjun and reciprocates his feelings, prompting an intimate relationhip.

In the meanwhile, Arjun beats up Amit, a member of the opponent football team he fought with, as he misbehaves with Preethi for vengeance and threatens him to guard her as a brother in his absence.

While Arjun's family rejoices over his brother Gautham's forthcoming wedding, Arjun visits Preethi's home to talk to her parents but Devdas Shetty, her father, sees them in an intimiate moment and throws him out of the house, declaring his strong disapproval of their relationship owing to his brash behaviour and mainly because they belong to different castes.

To deal with his trauma, Arjun begins to drink, smoke, take drugs and attempt one-night stands, all of which fail to cure his distress.

A case is filed against him; Gautham recruits an intelligent advocate Vipul and arranges for an in-house court hearing but Arjun, out of guilt, confesses to have violated his ethics, causing his mecial license to be suspended for five years and he is evicted from the flat.

"[1] After working on a scene, he used to wait for a week as he believed that for a film with twists and turns, the narrative would have a chance to jump, thereby giving scope for cinematic liberties.

[5] In a September 2017 interview with Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu, Vanga said he believed that Telugu cinema uses dialects spoken in Guntur and Vijayawada.

[7] He made use of words that were rarely spoken in colloquial Telugu like yaralu (sister-in-law) to make Arjun look "real and rooted".

Deverakonda's breakthrough film Pelli Choopulu (2016) had not yet been released, and many were against Vanga for casting him, citing it a risky move for a home production.

[12] In an interview with Indo-Asian News Service, Devarakonda called the portrayal of Arjun Reddy exhausting, noting that, "I had to be constantly probing into the darkest areas of my consciousness, digging out feelings and tapping into emotions I had never touched in myself".

[13] He did not have any cinematic references but watched films like The Godfather (1972), Scarface (1983) and Goodfellas (1990) to remain in an alpha male zone.

[6] According to Deverakonda, Vanga wanted to set the film in a coastal city and chose Mangalore—mirroring his student life in Dharwad—and stayed there for ten days to finalise the locations.

[19] The crew wanted to film the intermission scene, in which Arjun urinates in his pants, authentically but a delay in the shoot led to the insertion of a medical hosepipe in Deverakonda's trousers.

[31] Radhan composed the film's six-song soundtrack, with lyrics written by Ananta Sriram, Rambabu Gosala, Shreshta and Mandela Pedaswamy.

[33] The soundtrack was preceded by four singles—"Mangaluru – Mussorie" (later known as "Dhooram"), "The Breakup Song" (later known as "Teliseney Na Nuvvey"), "Emitemito" and "Madhurame"—released on 23 April 19 June 10 and 31 July 2017, respectively.

[45] Days before the film's release, Indian National Congress party's Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao tore promotional posters featuring the lead pair kissing each other that had been pasted on TSRTC buses.

[63] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo said the film is "too raw and real to be absolutely fictional" and commented: "Hours after watching Arjun Reddy, it’s hard to shake off its effect.

[65] Neeshita Nyayapati gave the film four stars out of five and commented: "With Arjun Reddy, Sandeep Vanga has managed to tell a story that is seldom told, without sleaze or cheesy lines or [over the top] drama".

[67] Suresh Kavirayani of Deccan Chronicle also gave the film four stars out of five and commended the performances and the filmmaking but was apprehensive of the second half's pace.

"[70] Latha Srinivasan, in her review for NewsX, wrote that the protagonist is "unconventional, free-spirited and tries to break the shackles of traditional societal norms".

He wrote: "As a tale of a love-struck man, who falters and finally figures out what is best for him, the experiment that the director undertakes is tedious, stretching out time and again".

"[74] Malini Raghu of Deccan Herald concurred, stating: "portraying [Reddy] as just a wounded and short-tempered but affectionate boy is not acceptable to many [...] The female lead's gullibility is annoying, especially to women.

Her comments against Arjun Reddy were met with widespread appreciation and criticism with many noting that she was brave enough to address the issue in front of Deverakonda.

[80] Later, Deverakonda criticised social media trollers during an interview for blowing the issue out of proportion while simultaneously emphasising on how much he respected Parvathy and her work.

[85] In Vijayawada, women's organisations held a protest against the film, complaining of its "objectionable" content that could have a negative impact on young people.