Super Subbu, Netflix India’s first Telugu original series, is receiving glowing reviews. The story of a young man (played by Sundeep Kishan) tasked with teaching sex education to a village which has the highest reproduction rate in the country, the seven-episode series, created and directed by Mallik Ram, is being singled out for its heartwarming treatment of a tricky subject.

Recently, t2 flew down to Hyderabad to chat with actors Sundeep Kishan, Murali Sharma, Mithila Palkar and director Mallik Ram about Super Subbu and beyond. Excerpts from the chat.

What were the primary reasons that made you want to be a part of Super Subbu?

Murali Sharma: It was the way the script was written. It is a beautiful script that absorbs one in it. You don’t want to stop... you want to finish the series. I also loved my character Kukuteshwar Rao.
Sundeep Kishan: Super Subbu is a very honest show. We have tried to make a happy show that will make everyone laugh, and also think. This is a genre and story that will cross barriers in terms of its narrative. I have been a fan of content like Vicky Donor, Bala, Badhaai Ho... these are sensitive subjects which have been picked up from regular life, and you watch them with a smile on your face, even as you emotionally engage with them. Super Subbu falls in that category. I felt it was important to be associated with stories like this, especially when it is being backed by a platform like Netflix, which has the potential to take stories across borders.
Mithila Palkar: The script is amazing. Before this, no one had imagined me as a village girl from Telangana. A lot of credit goes to the director (Mallik Ram) that he had the vision to do so. I was very excited about how he has written my character (Swati). There is nothing you won’t like about her. She is an aspiring actress, very ambitious and feisty... she finds her own direction. I saw myself in her.

Mallik, what made you think that Sundeep, Mithila and Murali were the ideal choices for these characters?

Mallik: I am a big fan of all these actors. I wanted them to experiment a little more than what they have already done. Mithila has primarily played an urban woman trying to make her way through relationships. I wanted to cast her in something more challenging. I believe it is my superpower to be able to envision actors with much more range than they usually have shown in their work. A contrasting performance from what an actor is chiefly known for is very exciting for the audience.

I am the kind of director who sits excitedly behind the monitor waiting to be surprised by my actors. All three of them have done fantastically well, much more than what was on paper and in my head.

Sundeep is a very adorable guy and I wanted to show him like that in Super Subbu. It was a pleasure seeing Murali sir getting deep into his character right from the first day of shoot. All of them understood what was needed and over and above that, came up with their versions of it. Viewers will fall in love with every character on the show.

When a director has such huge expectations, does it put pressure on you as actors?

Mithila: No, I felt relieved in a way because I am a director’s actor. I like to surrender to my director and then bring whatever I can to the table. In Super Subbu, the biggest challenge for me was the language. We had conversations before we went on set. I did many readings with Mallik and a language coach. So I already knew the direction they wanted to take and if on set, something more needed to be done, he would automatically nudge me towards it. He was also receptive towards what I wanted to bring in.
Murali: I didn’t take it as pressure because we already were given so much to play with in the script readings, as well as the freedom of taking it a step further than what was on paper. We are all responsible towards the script — how we can make it more entertaining and interesting. So one is constantly at it while on set. But it is never a pressure from the director. At least the way Mallik put it, it was never pressure.
Sundeep: Right before Super Subbu, I had worked on projects with completely different kinds of filmmakers. Like Raayan, with Dhanush as director, who is very specific even about the number of blinks he wants from his actors! As an actor, I like to have fun on set and discover things as I am doing them. I like to be clueless of what I am doing till my first shot. It is only after the first shot when I realise: “Okay, this is what I have done.”

I enjoy that process and I got a lot of space for that in this show. So, if I am discovering something in a shot, then it is important for the director to be able to see various versions of it.

Mallik would revisit shots, which is very important for a series. In a film, you have a screenplay of maybe two hours, it is tighter than that of a show. In a show, you get time to enjoy the nuances of a character. I got to work with actors who are unique in their own ways. Murali sir is very specific about everything and repeats a dialogue at least a hundred times before a take. Mithila is very spontaneous as an actor and she has acted in a series where she doesn’t even know the language.

Do you remember your first brush with sex education? Were you curious or awkward or both?

Mithila: I was in a co-ed school and the boys were sent down to play while the girls were asked to sit in class and we were told everything about sex education, as in whatever they could tell us at that age. We were around 12-13, the time when girls start getting their period and there was a lot of conversation among us around that space. The boys, since they were asked to leave the class, would snigger about it, and it became even more of a taboo.
Murali: We had nothing like that. We just stumbled upon it and discovered it ourselves.
Sundeep: Ninety-nine per cent of boys get their sex education from their friends, or as it was back in my day, Internet cafes. Now, they have Internet on their phones.
Mithila: My sister is seven years older than me and it was left to her to explain things to me. So, even before school did it, I had got my share of sex education from my sister, who being a nerd, drew diagrams of the ovaries and the uterus and explained things to me. I really appreciated the privilege of having her around, which I know so many women growing up don’t.

Mallik, was presenting a cheeky take on sex education a tricky tightrope to walk on, given that families will watch this show too?

Mallik: I like working on sensitive subjects because that is where I believe one’s craft and moral compass as a filmmaker is challenged. I felt no one spoke about this subject and that I should. The uniqueness of the story is that you can do it only once, and hence you have to do it the right way.

We haven’t tried to make a sex comedy. This is a genuine and honest show which tackles a taboo, with all the characters feeling like real people, quirks and flaws included.

I think we have landed Super Subbu in a sweet spot. It is in the right space, and has turned out to be better than I thought.

Mithila, your character is an aspiring actress who laments that she is stuck playing the same kind of roles. As actors, have you faced that in your careers and how did you break out of it?

Mithila: It has happened with me in terms of the girl-next-door stereotype. It helps when someone like Mallik has the vision of imagining me otherwise. He didn’t think that I was too urban to play a village girl. The stereotyping in my case happened briefly, but thankfully, I have got to play different kinds of roles in the recent past.

The plus side of playing similar roles is that it is a comfort zone and you know how to do that well. But as an actor, I started feeling that I may have a limitation, that I needed to do much more. But how does an actor challenge oneself if there are no opportunities? I am grateful to Mallik and Netflix for bringing me this character.

Murali: What works is probably offered to us more often. But once in four or five projects, there is something different that comes up. Kukuteshwar is a father, but the way he has been thought of — right from his name itself — makes you believe there is something more to this man. On the first day of shoot, we were trying to see how quirky Kuku can get because he is a very irritating guy. We decided to see Kuku from the eyes of Subbu as a kid, who probably has always looked at his outdated father as aT-Rex. So in the whole show, I walk with my hands in front (imitates a dinosaur).

Sundeep: The boon and the bane of my career has been that 95-98 per cent of my choices have never been set projects which came to me. It was always me thinking: “Okay, this is the kind of story I want to work in next” or a director came to me with a story and I decided that this is what I wanted to do. After that, we spent four-five months trying to find a producer to back the project. Super Subbu is my 31st project, and there have only been four or five projects till now that were completely set up when they came to me.

That is a pro and a con to this. The pro is that you get to architect your career and your identity the way you want to. The con is not all people see things the way you do and it doesn’t land the same way in terms of execution.

Super Subbu was already set up when it came to me. Netflix liked the story and wanted to do it. It was my choice if I wanted to put my face as one of the identities of the show. Otherwise, I have never waited for somebody to create something and come to me hoping they will see me that way. That requires some level of privilege and even success doesn’t quantify that. At times, it might have not paid off, but it has been adventurous and fun.

The tagline of Super Subbu is ‘Right Subject, Wrong Teacher’. Is there a subject in school that you didn’t like but a teacher made it palatable for you?

Mithila: That would be math. I had a tuition teacher in Class X who made it somewhat easy for me. And also when my sister taught me, I was okay with the subject. But she went to the US when I was in Class VII, so I didn’t have that privilege anymore.

Otherwise, numbers and I don’t get along. If you catch me in a vulnerable moment, I might have to even think hard about what two plus two equals! (Laughs)Murali: Math was tricky for me as well. But there was one teacher, again, who made the subject somewhat likable for me. But even in my midnight sleep, I can tell you what two and two equals...Mithila: Of course, I was exaggerating!Sundeep: I did my schooling in Chennai and Hindi was tough for me. It was my second language subject and a Malayali was tasked with teaching us Hindi. So you can well imagine the scenario!

It was a difficult board exam for me because of Hindi. I had even told my parents I would flunk the subject. But I managed. I also did a semester of engineering and it was like a bouncer... I understood nothing!

Which taboo subject would you like to see addressed in an Indian film/ series? Tell t2@abp.in