The film follows Prabha, who, desperate to escape a forced marriage to a gangster's daughter, spins a tale of reuniting with his long-lost love in the idyllic Swiss Alps.

To reach their professional goals, Vishwanath and Nandini travel to Switzerland, while Hanumanta Rao becomes a criminal lawyer and settles in India.

During the reunion at Bhadram’s farmhouse, Prabha happens to see Nandini, who is now a graduated gold medalist from Cambridge.

As they play basketball, Rishi, Appala Raju's son gatecrashes into the game as he is cheered by Nandini.

Prabha tells him, and Hanumanta and his friends decide to help in the expenses, stopping Bhadram from selling the house.

Hanumanta Rao, unaware of their conspiracy, accidentally touches the iron box and gets an electric shock, leading to a scuffle between Prabha and Rishi.

He sends his men to kill her, but Prabha manages to stop them and save Nandini but was severely injured.

The Times of India gave a two and half star rating explaining "Director A. Karunakaran extracts good performances from his actors, but can't come up with a refreshing plot.

It looks like the director hasn't really come out of his Tholi Prema hangover as he dishes out yet another one-sided love saga but fails to come up with a valid and logical reason to make a Gen Z lad to hold back his feelings for his lover until the last moment.

[4] Sify noted "Prabhas looked very handsome and his performance can be termed as the major highlight of the film".

[6] Local review sites GreatAndhra and Idlebrain both gave a three star rating and praised the actors performance and technical works of the film.

[7][8] Darling movie was remade in Kannada as Bulbul starring Darshan, Ambareesh, Ramya Barna, Rachita Ram and directed by M.D Shridhar and Produced by Meena Thoogudeepa.