Forged: Aadhitya MS Bhaskar, Namritha MV, Jayant, Devadharshini B, Siddharth, Badava Gopi, Latha Venkatraman, Sri Ganesh, Nikhil Nair, Guru Somasundaram
Director: Arun Koushik
Streaming On: SonyLIV
Meme Boys, SonyLIV’s newest Tamil authentic providing is steeped in Tamil pop-culture goodness. If this was not obvious from its title, look no additional than its introduction sequence. When a gang of 4 college students is arrested of their campus, one in every of them emulates Thalapathy Vijay’s signature wave in handcuffs from Atlee’s Mersal. This hilarious prelude will be thought-about a mild nod to followers of Tamil cinema and meme-hood: a reminder that they’re set to navigate a hilarious labyrinth of Tamilness over the course of eight episodes.
The collection, which unfolds in a distant engineering faculty in Tamil Nadu — one thing that the majority engineers within the state are accustomed to — follows the lives of Meme Boys, a gang of misfits and lovers of memes, who come collectively to win an annual meme contest (and extra importantly, the possibility of working with actor Sivakarthikeyan in a movie). And no factors for guessing that it’s an SK fan who’s the glue of the group. The gang includes a riot of characters – Aadhitya MS Bhaskar is Mojo, a cinema-nut who has a Thala, Thalapathy, and Thalaivar dialogue prepared for each state of affairs, Jayanth (of Tremendous Deluxe fame) is the “Charles Babbage” of the campus, a pc genius with a knack for hacking, B Siddharth is Jumbo, a serial pessimist, who illustrates memes when he isn’t stressing, and Namritha MV is Julie, an aspiring YouTuber who doesn’t mince phrases. And collectively they use memes to discuss scholar struggles. After they aren’t arrested that’s.
Whilst Mojo assembles these misfits – the Avengers of Apoorva College if you’ll – they nonetheless have one drawback. Their new dean Narayanan, performed extremely by Guru Somasundaram, is a strict disciplinarian who doesn’t care for college students or their freedom of speech. So, when Narayanan and his eponymous faculty beliefs – are became a meme on his very first day on campus, he’s out for blood. And thus begins a rip-roaring rat race to nab the memers. Narayanan ensures this by a poor man’s activity drive that features Kathir (performed superbly by Badava Gopi), who is commonly reminded that he’s not an assistant dean, however an assistant to the dean (props for The Workplace fan within the writing staff), Sivagami, the terrorizing girls hostel warden, who will get away with among the finest traces within the present, and faculty safety Azim, who loves his naps.
The present is basically humorous, evoking laughs both as a result of it mimics Tamil popular culture or the damaging web censorship that’s prevailing in our nation as we speak. Web bots, hate trolls, tv media circus, and the loose-and-fast utilization of “anti-management components”, all worrying realities of navigating the web as we speak, are given a subversive twist within the present. However it’s at its finest when it pokes enjoyable on the generational gaps between Boomers and Gen Z. Narayanan and Badava Gopi excel in moments the place they battle to maintain up with web lingo, and a technology that’s all the time one step forward of their plans. Badava Gopi’s exchanges with Jayant about outdated individuals and passwords deserve a sketch by itself.
The motif of scholar energy in cinema is a theme that’s rife with alternative, particularly within the days that we dwell in as we speak. However that doesn’t appear to be utilized to the fullest, because the present progresses. Whereas the makers maintain Meme Boys crisp, aided by good cliff-hangers each episode, they cease wanting making a bigger assertion past simply memes. So, whereas they keep true to the style, the frivolousness that comes together with making a scholar comedy drags the narrative. And with that, the subversiveness can be dialed down, and the writing turns into confused. A lot in order that when the engrossing chase – the primary arc within the present – lastly concludes, you might be left wanting for extra – extra substance, extra cheekiness, and one thing extra than simply palatable comedy.