Netflix’s first Telugu Original arrives with familiar comic beats, progressive sex education themes, and an endearing Sundeep Kishan performance
Mallik Ram, writer and director of Super Subbu, adopts a very Rajkumar Hirani approach in his Netflix Telugu original series. The sitcom is set in small-town Telangana, in a fictional village named Maakipur, and the idea appears to create a sex comedy where the jokes come first but with a strong side of progressive messaging about the importance of sex education.
It begins in Hyderabad, where Subbu (an enjoyable Sundeep Kishan) has grown up in a very strict home controlled by his very strict Brahmin father (played by Murli Sharma). His father’s a math teacher, and he’s raised in the kind of household where watching porn is akin to committing murder. Even in his late 20s, he gets nightmares at the very thought of sex. So when all of the villagers in Maakipur discover that he’s still a virgin (or ‘virginee’ as they call him), it’s not only because he hasn’t been with a woman. He hasn’t even been with…himself.
The Plot and Its Themes
The episodes are divided a lot like chapters of a text book. So if one episode is written around family planning and contraception, then another deals with sex determination. The one that comes together most entertainingly discusses consent. More than 10 years after films like Pink (or its remake, Vakeel Saab, in Telugu), we get to see the struggles of a sex education officer like Subbu, trying to explain consent to a group of women who may have never had the luxury to say no.
It’s funny but also tragic when Subbu explains that ‘no’ might actually be an option for the women in Makhipur to tell their husbands. The fertility rate of this village is said to be the highest in the country and it falls on Subbu to take the effort to bring that number down. What’s worse, his completion of a six-month awareness programme is linked to the village getting its own water tower. The stakes become a lot higher as a result of this condition, making Subbu’s mission the fate of this village.
The Characters
And just when you feel like the series might lean too hard into its messaging, it switches back into sex comedy territory. The character of Rajini, a sex worker, is introduced along predictable lines. But her interactions with Subbu makes up some of the show’s most charming moments. The show is careful to not punch down in these portions and it also fits in perfectly with the character arc of Subbu, who is as much in a journey of self-discovery as he’s simply trying to fit in.
The narrative tension, however, comes from a series of knots Subbu ties himself into. When he discovers that it’s impossible to bring a group of women under one roof to conduct an awareness session, he’s advised by Mithila Palkar’s Swathi to sneak in to a local kitty party to try his luck there. His lessons on consent too do not sit well with the men of the village, who turn on him for introducing agency to their women.
What Works and What Doesn’t
A lot of the larger jokes fall into familiar territory. A speech delivered by Subbu’s father, unaware of the context, feels too similar to the now iconic speech from 3 Idiots. Another scene in which Subbu’s house requires a clean up, just in time for his father’s visit, feels right out of Munnabhai M.B.B.S. But then again, when the Hiraniesque blend between messaging and comedy works, Super Subbu can surprise pleasantly.
At times, you wish the show had worked on a few more drafts to iron out the lack of cohesiveness as it shifts from one sub plot to another. One episode ends with a particularly dramatic night in Subbu’s life. But when the next episode begins, no reference is made to what just happened. Songs like the one ushering in a festival too does little to the flow of the series. One can say the same about a conveniently written love track for Subbu which never feels important enough to matter.
The Verdict
In his monologue, Subbu explains how what he teaches is just as important as the lessons taught by his father. You wish the show had spent a little longer explaining how Subbu comes to become this important to the village folk. You also wish the show had said something cleverer instead of rehashing notions of an ambitious city girl being somewhat lesser to the more “homely” village girl. But somewhere through these rough edges, we begin to care for this ridiculous village and the silliness that comes becomes endearing. As familiar as it might be, there’s enough to like in this sex comedy to make you want to wait for the rest of their stories.
