Cult (2026)

<p>Madhava, known as Maddy, is introduced in Manipal as a college dropout drifting through days of drinking and erratic behaviour, his friend DJ Joy repeatedly cleaning up after him. His bitterness toward love is rooted in a village?days romance with Geetha: the film intercuts his present rut with flashbacks to their adolescent courtship and promises before both leave for higher studies—he to Manipal, she to Bengaluru. Contact grows difficult; when Maddy eventually finds her, Geetha has embraced a different city life and moved on, which shatters him and sends him deeper into self?destruction. Maddy’s cigarettes marked with Geetha’s name—underline an obsession he cannot shake, while his father’s restrained presence signals a home that cannot rescue him from his spiral.</p>