The B-school grind isn’t an easy one, what with its packed schedules, endless projects and all-nighters. To take off the heat, the guys (and gals) at IIM-Calcutta have their share of fun — the quirkier the better.

Apart from sessions of midnight tennis and basketball and online games like Counter-Strike and Age of Empires, the MBAs-to-be take it easy — with Mithunda! Through their LAN connections, IIM-Cians chill out with the 1998 Bollywood hit Gunda (directed by Kanti Shah), starring Mithun Chakraborty — a film that’s a staple source of unending laughs. A true college classic, with cool lines delivered the way only Mithunda can.

Gunda is an epic tale of revenge and redemption in true 80s style — made in the late 90s! — with all its excesses, grime and an insight into the seamier side of Mumbai, where bodies drop like flies and a blood-and-guts saga unfolds. “Gunda is a tradition that has been handed down through successive batches. It is all about a group of people sitting together and having great fun,” says Debtosh Mishra, a first-year student. “We also have our own versions of many of the classic dialogues, which makes the experience doubly enjoyable,” Debtosh smiles.

Mithunda plays the rough-and-tough coolie in a dockyard, who moves from being a gunda to a sort of crusader-figure after falling prey to the corruption in society.

The typical filmi lines and hilarious action sequences make Gunda an extremely watchable potboiler. Lines like “Main hoon jurm se nafrat karne wala, garibon ke liye jyoti aur gundon ke liye jwala” are clinchers for the crowd at IIM-C, looking to unwind after a hard day’s brainstorming.

There are some, though, who can’t sit through the whole thing even for a few laughs. Krishnan Shekhar is one of those. “I watched some of it, but it was so bad that after a while I tuned out. I don’t really think that I can sit through the whole thing. Basically, it is so bad that you can laugh at just about everything in it,” he confesses.

Islandnero Longkumer, another first-year student on campus, disagrees. “It’s perfect for getting together for a few laughs,” she says with a smile. Throw in a few Bhojpuri music videos and you have what it takes to play and have a blast, IIM-C style!

Diya Kohli