Plot:
The story is set in an Engineering college where rules have been thrown to the winds by every possible player. Damodhar (Sangeeth Shoban), Manoj (Ram Nithin), and Ashok (Narne Nithin) become thick friends in no time. Ashok, who appears disinterested in girls, has a best-kept secret. Manoj, who is in love with Sri Gouri Priya's character, is in for heartbreak. Damodhar, who is shortly called DD, is fooled around by an unknown girl who stalks him.
The three stories are spiced up by the presence of Laddu (Vishnu Oi), who is doing Engineering just so that he gets to have a girlfriend.
Performances:
A remarkable aspect of this film is that five out of six lead actors are newcomers to cinema. If you consider Sangeeth's OTT outings, he is not a debutant in the strict sense of the term. In 'Happy Days', nobody really was the hero or heroine. But the love track of the Varun Sandesh-Tamannaah duo was given primacy. And the comedy of Nikhil Siddhartha's character was given special prominence. Sangeeth is to 'MAD' what Nikhil was to Sekhar Kammula's movie.
Sri Gouri Priya and Gopikaa Udyan get overshadowed by the Vishnu Oi-Muralidhar Goud duo. They play the son-father duo with an infectious ease. Although Goud has been typecast since 'DJ Tillu', his flustered expressions and reactions don't bore us. Raghu Babu should have been joined by one or two other well-known artists with a knack for mindless comedy.
Technical Departments:
By opting for Bheems Ceciroleo to compose the music for a city-based comedy, director Kalyan Shankar scored marks. The composer has been used mostly for massy and noisy films. 'MAD' and its energetic situations extract the good (if not the best) music from him. The college campus looks sprawling, thanks to the cinematography and the wide-angle shots that dot the film at regular intervals.
Merits:
Pure time-pass fun. 'MAD' doesn't get into the buddy comedy mode either.
Keeping the momentum of the first half intact in the second half without getting complacent.
The 'suspecting parents, dumb kids' template has been used well.
In the first half, the badminton match is used to generate comedy. In the second half, the college fest idea serves a similar purpose.
No excessive focus on the romantic tracks.
Emotional yet light-veined moments involving the orphan friend.
Dignified treatment of the female characters.
The cheery tone of the songs.
Demerits:
Derivative jokes that get predictable in some scenes.
Imperfect imitation of the 'Jathi Ratnalu' type of humour.
Rating: 3/5
