Aadu

Midhun Manuel Thomas's 2015 Malayalam comedy is an interesting case: it failed commercially on release and became a cult film afterwards through television and the internet. Shaji Pappan and his gang win a local tug-of-war tournament and are given a goat named Pinky as the prize; their attempts to get rid of the goat put them, without their knowing it, in the way of smugglers chasing a rare plant. The narrative logic is loose and meant to be. The comedy rests entirely on character types and repeated lines; Jayasurya's Shaji Pappan and Vinayakan's scenes produced phrases that lodged in Malayalam popular culture. Humour of this kind travels badly in translation, because its effect comes from familiarity. The sequel was far more successful than the original. Who it's for: viewers who like Malayalam comedy and ensemble films built on absurdity. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a coherent plot, or bothered by local language jokes being lost in translation.