Meme Boys review: Guru Somasundaram stands out in this largely entertaining fun-filled campus drama

3/5

Story: Four college students who have similar interests come together to make creative memes on an Instagram page questioning the injustice meted out to the student community in a deemed university. Their popularity on social media irks the autocratic college dean and he decides to hunt them down. He comes up with various plans to curb their creativity when some of the memes target his actions and policies. However, he realizes that it's not an easy task to find them. Amid various pressure from the university chairman and family, the dean finally resorts to a master plan. Will he be able to track them down? 

Review: Arun Koushik's Meme Boys begins with four college students getting arrested by cops even as the entire campus expresses shock over the crime they committed. Well, the crime was that they have been creating memes on their popular Instagram page "Meme Boys".

All the four of them were aware that they would be caught-red handed one day when the college dean tracked them down for the memes targeting his autocratic actions and new policies. But little did they expect that they would be arrested by cops for posting memes on social media.

It all began when Mohan Jothi Babu (Aadhitya Bhaskar) reached out to Karthik (Siddharth) to join him for creating memes as the former was gearing up for an exciting meme fest that announced a handsome amount of money for the winner. Later, Srikumar (Jayanth) and Julie (Namritha), too, join them after knowing about their intention.

Their timely memes on various issues in the university win the hearts of students, and they manage to enjoy a good following on their Instagram page titled Meme Boys. However, their memes against the newly joined dean, Narayanan (Guru Somasundaram), forces the latter to take initiatives to hunt them down.

He tries several methods to stop them from creating memes with the help of assistant dean Kathiresan (Badava Gopi) and a few others. Narayanan even resorts to disabling Wi-Fi in the campus and hiring another student to hack their network, but in vain. The egoistic dean finally comes up with an unique idea which changes the fate of the students.

What makes Meme Boys work to a good extent is its enjoyable twists and turns which appear at regular intervals. The director has largely succeeded in covering logical loopholes with his writing which engages the viewers. Some of the supposedly nail-biting sequences are entertaining and serve its purpose.

Most of the simple, light-hearted jokes work which complements the narration which is a blend of seriousness and humour. Most of the pivotal characters are played by actors who appear comfortable in their roles. Among those who played the four students, Siddharth stands out with his witty one-liners and curious expressions and he single-handedly makes a few sequences work.

Namritha impresses with her effective screen presence and keeps the viewers guessing about her various actions. Aadhitya Bhaskar and Jayanth, too, are apt in their roles and score in a few crucial scenes. Badava Gopi, as the opportunistic assistant dean, comes up with one of his best performances, and he effortlessly pulls off a complex character.

But the show-stealer is Guru Somasundaram who exudes confidence and austerity in his body language. He leaves his mark in every single scene he appears, thanks to his impressive portrayal of an egoistic dean who calls a spade a spade. It's a treat watching him perform a character quite contrasting to his previous OTT release Minnal Murali.

His character Shibu in the Malayalam movie is a nobody who is looked down upon by many. In Meme Boys, he pulls off the role of an authoritarian in a graceful manner. Both the characters have grey shades, but the difference he brings to them with his subtle, yet notable portrayals is testimony to the powerhouse of talent that he is.

The background score by Gopal Rao, cinematography by Jagadeesh Sundaramuthy and editing by Rahul Raj complement the narration. On the downside, a few sequences appear repetitive and the proceedings become a tad too long. The effort taken to develop characters of Guru Somasundaram and Badava Gopi deserves praise, but the other characters are comparatively under-written.  

Verdict: The series is likely to work for those who don't mind watching no-brainers and light-hearted campus dramas with twists and turns. Despite a few shortcomings, Meme Boys is a harmless one-time watch.

Meme Boys is streaming on SonyLIV.