In one of the early scenes of MAD, the first-year students of the college run to a faculty to complain against the seniors who have ragged them, only to discover that the faculty in question is a super-senior himself, in cahoots with those who have ragged these freshers. There is the briefest moment of tension between the seniors and juniors, but before we think this situation is going to erupt into a war, the film instantly cuts to a song about the joys of college life, with the seniors and juniors becoming besties in two minutes. This kind of scene, where the serious instantly turns trivial and where trivial turns to something more trivial, is the essence of MAD.
The initial stretches of the film play out as myths, with touches of unexpected absurdity. A student trying to escape the college with all the intensity of a whistleblower revealing state secrets is busted and tied up. Turns out, he just wanted to run away from college due to homesickness. A super-senior is known to enter the scene only when the problems blow up, only to console the previously escaping student and narrate the story of his adventures in college, following which he is free to decide if he wants to stay.
We go back to 2016. The super-senior, nicknamed Laddoo (Vishnu Oi) was himself a timid, homesick student ready to flee. He stays and we are also introduced to Manoj, Ashok and Damodar — the boys who form the MAD squad. Manoj (Ram Nithin) is a handsome casanova known for trying his luck on women in college and the 216 RTC bus he commutes in. Damodar (Sangeeth Shoban) is a self-professed village bumpkin bursting with goofy yet endearing main character energy. Ashok (Narne Nithin) is a brooding introvert and an orphan, who unexpectedly rises to the occasion at a basketball game and becomes a part of the college gang.
One of MAD’s more unique strengths is that despite the film being filled with events, it never feels like the film is progressing or developing into something big. The laughs come in consistently, almost as if the film was written as an excuse to make these jokes. The film also doffs its hat to iconic campus films like 3 Idiots and Happy Days, while also existing independently in its own right. Each of the boys gets a love story, and much like its predecessor Happy Days, the love stories have something to reflect about these individual characters. While one’s love story is a comedy landmine, the love stories of the other two boys play a role in them growing out of their introversion and childishness.
MAD borrows from multiple traditions of comedy, be it the comedies around slapping, the punchline comedy popularised by Trivikram and double entredres. Director Anudeep KV makes a cameo in the film and his style of irreverent, silly and subversive one-liners also feature prominently. Out of all the comedy that exists on paper, it is the physical comedy that Sangeeth Shoban brings to the table that deserves a special mention. It isn’t a stretch to declare that he is the soul of the film. Nithin Narne, the nephew of NTR Jr, has the most amount of “heroic” writing and backhanded elevations, but the actor himself does not rise up to the character he was handed.
MAD also benefits from an assured, quickfire direction, which is aided by Shamdat’s colourful, cheery frames (the cinematographer also appears in a blink-and-miss professor cameo). Despite remnants of the campus film genre seen across MAD, one thing sets the latter apart from the rest. There is no sappy mythologising of friendship. As the film ends, we get a line. “College is worth going to for friends without whom you would feel your life would actually be better.” It is silly, it is profound, it is…mad.
MAD
Cast: Sangeeth Shoban, Vishnu Oi, Narne Nithin, Ram Nithin, Gouri Priya Reddy, Ananthika Sanilkumar, Gopika Udayan
Director: Kalyan Shankar