Mad Square OTT Release: Cringe Comedy for Netflix Fans?

One of the biggest hits of Tollywood in 2025, Mad Square, directed by Kalyan Shankar, earned widespread applause from fans when it was released in theaters last month. Netflix scheduled Mad Square's release on 25th April, almost 4 weeks after its theatrical release. Given the diverse and selective nature of the audience on a global platform such as Netflix, the movie's OTT performance remains uncertain.

Of late, cracking comedy for Telugu directors has become extremely hard. Renowned filmmakers like Anil Ravipudi have been facing flak for a long time for attempting to entertain audiences with their typical humor. It's really difficult to make an auditorium laugh consistently and keep them hooked throughout a film's runtime.

Pure comedy genre films have reduced drastically in Telugu cinema, and even filmmakers are either opting to throw in a youth aspect or horror to make the movie more presentable. Mad Square belongs to the former category, and its success in the theaters was primarily due to its exceptional casting.

The audience was entertained by Sangeeth Shoban, Ram Nithiin, Vishnu Oi, Narne Nithin, and Muralidhar Goud in the first part, and they maintained their performance in the sequel as well. Especially Vishnu Oi and Muralidhar Goud stole the show in Mad Square, and it won't be an understatement to call them two major assets in the film.

Buddy comedies like Mad Square usually work when you go with your gang to the theaters and expect no-nonsense fun. Mad Square achieved similar success. The audiences who helped the film touch the 100 crore mark are young people who wanted to have a memorable time at the cinemas.

But the OTT audiences are entirely different. Furthermore, Mad Square falls flat at a few portions throughout its length, and this might make Netflix fans feel that the movie is not worth their time. Even families may want to watch the film on Netflix, but Mad Square may not appeal to them.

The makers of Mad 1 faced the risk of alienating certain sections of the audience and alienating others with their over-the-top comedy. Fortunately, the film worked, and even the second part was loud. So, it won't be a surprise if some Netflix fans call Mad Square a cringe-worthy comedy after watching it. Let's see how long the movie stays in Netflix India's Top 10. That way, we can get an idea of how much the fans have loved it.