Subbu is in the running for the title of the world’s most repressed and oppressed son. Subbu (Sundeep Kishan) is still paying the price for an act committed as a teenager. His father Kukkuteshwar (Murali Sharma), a teacher who fond of such utterances as “It is pure unadulterated nonsense, I say!” has punished the boy by refusing to treat him like a man.
The grown-up Subbu is barely holding on to a teaching position and so accepts a job nobody else wants: to teach sex education to the residents of Maakipur village. Dismissed as a loser by Kukkuteshwar and keen on proving himself to his girlfriend Divya (Maanasa Choudhary), Subbu embarks on a seemingly unwinnable war.
Maakipur is proud of its high fertility rate. There are so many pregnant women in Maakipur because real men live here, one notable boasts. They have chased Subbu’s predecessor away.
Subbu himself is not entirely suited to the task of imparting tips on birth control, menstruation, condom usage and similar touchy topics. Helped by his deputy Kantha (Getup Srinu) and aspiring actress Swathi (Mithila Palkar), Subbu fights his way through a thicket of birds and bees.
The Telugu series Super Subbu on Netflix examines its hero’s travails with generous doses of humour and flashes of acuity. Created and directed by Mallik Ram, and written by a host of writers as well as additional writers, Super Subbu maintains admirable evenness and steadiness over seven episodes. The show stumbles only in its eagerness to pile on the misery for Subbu, burdening him with a sub-plot too many.
It’s bad enough that Maakipur’s testosterone-oozing toughs are arrayed against Subbu and Kantha, or that Subbu’s superior (Raghu Babu) expects nothing short of miracles, or that Subbu is caught between the sarpanch and his disgruntled brother. At least one major sub-plot, emanating from Subbu’s inability to handle alcohol, is a case of overkill.
The show ends on a cliffhanger without any reason to. Subbu’s predicament could just as easily have been wrapped up with an extra episode or two. The makers are having too much fun surrounding Subbu with a host of well-cast secondary actors.
The main theme too is left to a possible second season. The neglect of sex education possibly has something to do with terrible parenting. Super Subbu teases this bold possibility, but postpones the full import of an uncomfortable truth.
Subbu’s father, however comical, is the kind of emasculating monster who is indirectly responsible for the orthodox attitudes towards sex in general and healthy sexual behaviour in particular. Kukkuteshwar is so forceful in his tyranny that it’s not surprising that when Subbu’s rebellion is expressed in a low volume.
The father who has crushed his son’s dreams every inch of the way – this is the real villain in Super Subbu, rather than Maakipur’s easily scandalised toughies and conservative rural values. This theme deserves better elaboration if there will be a follow-up season.
Whatever is already on offer is often very funny and very sharp. Maalik Ram and his writers keep the one-liners coming. The performances range from naturalistic to exaggerated. Subbu’s journey to “Subbu Sir” and then “Super Subbu” is witnessed by a range of village eccentrics. But the digs at the sarpanch’s short stature border on the cruel.
Sundeep Kishan is in great form as an instructor himself in dire need of instruction. Kishan is entirely convincing as a promising young man whose confidence has been destroyed by his father, and who struggles to discover his true purpose.
Mithila Palkar shines as Maakipur’s star-in-the-making, who’s stuck with a Christian evangelist father and in a place too narrow for her ambitions. Getup Srini is an excellent foil to, and saviour of, the permanently put-upon Subbu.
