Fun characters with oddities, one too many twists, plus a ton of boomer jokes—SonyLIV’s first original Tamil series Meme Boys might not be the most amazing college comedy-drama you’ll binge-watch this weekend, but it’s a light-hearted show you wouldn’t mind putting on for a quick laugh during your lunch break.
Four college friends who launch a meme page to participate in a competition, soon find themselves at the centre of chaos as they begin using their anonymous online presence to point out the cracks in their college administration—gaining likes and popularity, but falling under the college dean’s scanner. As they try to evade his gaze, the drama begins to unfold.
The eight-episode show, produced by Rainshine Entertainment and directed by Arun Koushik and A. Gokul Krishna, will air on SonyLiv from 22 July. While the first half of the season is packed with humour, the second half treads along more serious lines. What started as a fun-filled endeavour to make a quick buck by four college students turns into an entire revolution by the end of the show, causing a ‘meme heist’, national TV debates and trips to the police station.
Meme Boys centres around four college students of Apoorva University, Mohan (Aadhitya Bhaskar), Julie (Namritha), ‘Power’/Srikumar (Jayanth) and Karthik (Siddharth Babu), who are eager to participate in an annual, collegiate level ‘Memefest’, where they must make memes to compete for a hefty cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. With their own personal motivations, the four are adept at using technology, especially Power—who is actually revered in the college for being a tech genius and is even called the ‘Nephew of Charles Babbage’ on one occasion.
Additionally, there are two more noteworthy characters that propel the film forward. College dean Narayan (Guru Somasundaram) who the protagonists are at loggerheads with, and his assistant Kathir (Badava Gopi).
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Dean—the antagonist
Meme Boys opens by introducing the main characters and their motivations. We are also introduced to the new dean of Apoorva University early on, and as we pick up on his peculiarities from his first college speech, one knows that a major drama is about to unfold.
At first, we see the new dean as only being disciplined and preoccupied with educational values. But with each episode, his character arc portrays him as a shrewd and manipulative individual, who lies to his students. The negative light on him, however, does not take away from the strength of his character overall. As Machiavellian as he may seem, his idiosyncrasies don’t make it too easy to hate him.
Plus, since he’s the butt of all jokes and memes—one can’t help but feel a little bad for him.
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Memes as vehicles of democratic values
Four friends at Apoorva University suddenly become the voice of the student body through their meme page. Not only do they make some pretty funny memes, but they resonate with their peers and bring to light things that are unfair in the system.
Meme Boys reflects social media as a space to not only express but gather momentum for a change. As Mohan keeps saying throughout the show: “Thoughts become things,” motivating his group to keep going no matter the obstacle the Dean throws their way. Guru Somasundaram even says in an interview, “Today, memes have a special place in this world. All are making memes. They are sharing and enjoying these memes. Imagine if someone made a meme about me and I didn’t like it? But that became viral. What will I do?”
The show lays its focus on social media and the ease of using it as a double-edged sword. On one hand, the students of Apoorva University feel as if meme pages are synonymous with their freedom of expression. But on the other, a lot can go wrong when you put out inflammatory content that the world is consuming.
All in all, this Tamil comedy-drama has what it takes to be successful and be renewed for a second season. It has the energy but isn’t as wholesome as say, perhaps Kota Factory (2019). And while you are not going to fall in love with any of the characters, there are elements that will draw you to the next episode.
That’s the thing with Meme Boys—it has a narrative structure that paces slowly at first, reeling you in and then picks up right in the middle. The rise is such that even if you weren’t too impressed earlier, you’re just gonna hang in there because it has got you wondering what might happen next.
(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)