Tamil films set in educational institutions, like the recent Don, have been a lot about taking down teachers, those wielders of power and authority. In SonyLIV’s latest Tamil web series, Meme Boys, the focus is not on a number of teachers, but on just one authority figure: Dean Narayanan (a terrific Guru Somasundaram). The series is about a group of boys and a girl taking him down using the digital weapon of mass destruction Memes.
Creators Rajiv Rajaram-Drishya and director Arun Koushik are well aware of the uncomplicated nature of their central plot and weave an unpretentious narrative. There is a meme-making competition, and four engineering college students — Mojo (Aadhitya Bhaskar), Julie (Namritha), Power (Jayanth) and Jumbo (Siddharth) — form a team to win the grand prize of Rs 10 lakhs.
Through the power of their memes, they create changes in their Apoorva University and earn the wrath of their disciplinarian dean. With a wafer-thin plot and eight episodes to take it through, the writing becomes important that the makers of Meme Boys get their writing on point. For starters, the character arcs work. Mojo is a dreamer and a goofball. Power is an enterprising go-getter. Julie is a spunky and no-nonsense achiever. Jumbo is a scared but determined believer.
