‘MAD Square’ movie review: A middling film with a few outrageous laughs

‘MAD Square’ movie review: Sangeeth Sobhan, Narne Nithiin and Ram Nitin’s Telugu film offers a few outrageous laughs

In late 2023, when director Kalyan Shankar’s campus comedy MAD introduced the audience to the three protagonists after whom the Telugu film takes its name, their antics forged an instant connect with the student community and anyone who wanted to reminisce campus fun. It worked as a Happy Days redux for a new generation, served with large doses of silly but mostly likeable humour. A worthy follow up to a runaway hit is a tough act to pull off. Sangeeth Sobhan, Narne Nithiin and Ram Nithiin return in a new set up, accompanied by Vishnu Oi and Muralidhar Goud. However, the material they are dealing with is like a patchwork of segments. Some generate ample laughs while the others fizzle, even within the framework of absurd comedy. In that sense, MAD Square is no Tillu Square, the other sequel comedy blockbuster from the same production house.

The MAD trio — Manoj (Ram Nitin), Ashok (Narne Nithiin) and Damodar aka DD (Sangeeth Sobhan) — has moved on since the campus days but little else has changed. Their post-campus days unfold through a flashback narrated by Ganesh aka Laddu (Vishnu Oi), who is now in prison.

Director Kalyan Shankar, who has also written the screenplay, brings together two narrative styles that have served as templates for several comedies — chaos in a wedding house and a crime comedy in Goa. Laddu is the focal point for the humour in the wedding portion. MAD Square has no intention to deliver a social commentary about how a groom who is not blessed with an enviable personality roughs its out. The writing is content with frivolous fun at the cost of Laddu’s plight. The joke is also on the three friends who show up at the right time to unleash chaos.

Sangeeth Sobhan pulls off the silly humour with his affable screen presence. He makes it appear as though DD is an extension of his personality, all through the film. Narne Nithiin and Ram Nitin make their presence felt in a few scenes and the synergy between the three friends holds the narrative together in its weak portions. MAD Square does away with romance and is firmly centred on the rapport between the boys.

When the focus shifts to a Goan holiday, the film acknowledges Dil Chahta Hai through a passing dialogue. Unlike that well-to-do trio, these boys have a limited budget. The crime is also hinged on an incident that no one is expected to take seriously. Forget the lavishly mounted heist dramas in the casinos of Goa we have seen in mainstream films so far. This one is happy to take a low-stakes, absurd route.

Sunil’s arrival infuses some much-needed spark in the humour in the later portions. Some of the interactions between him and the MAD trio steps up the momentum. The dialogues between Laddu and his father pale in comparison to the first film. Towards the end, the writing redeems this equation and gives both Vishnu Oi and Muralidhar Goud something better to chew on. Vishnu Oi gets a full-fledged character and effectively portrays the anguish of a man who can sense impending doom.

There are occasional callbacks to the first film with brief appearances of the ‘Antony’ character and Anudeep KV, but the humour does not soar.