Actor Mithila Palkar believes that discussing sex education on screen comes with a huge responsibility. In an exclusive conversation with India Today, the Super Subbu actor opened up about what convinced her to say yes to the Telugu series, why she believes consent remains one of the least discussed aspects of sex education, and how years of “deep-rooted conditioning” continue to shape society’s understanding of boundaries.
While Super Subbu revolves around sex education, Mithila admitted she was initially aware of how delicately the subject needed to be handled. “I think it is a very sensitive topic, and it can go either way. So, I was just very happy with the way it was handled in the script and the way he’s written every character and the story. It just made me very happy,” she said.
The actor revealed that she was convinced almost immediately after reading the script. “By the end of my reading, I was sure that I wanted to be part of it. It takes really special skills to ensure that a sensitive topic, especially when you add comedy to it, is handled with the sensitivity it deserves and without trivialising it. And he managed to get that all together.”
She added that while the series uses humour, it never mocks the issues it discusses. “We are talking about important things in a very light-hearted way, but we are assertive about it. Again, we are not making light of the topics or the situations. So, I guess it was just really, really well written.”
‘Sex education is much more than what people think’
Mithila believes Super Subbu challenges the narrow understanding most people have about sex education. “Just the fact that when you think of sex education, there’s a very limited idea about it. But I think we’re talking about very important things which actually should be a part of sex education. Things like consent, which is not spoken about at all, and being able to draw boundaries.”
She stressed that consent extends far beyond romantic or sexual relationships. “Consent is a broad stroke. ‘No means no’ is for anything. We’re talking about it through this lens, but consent is for anything that you don’t want to indulge in. So, I think there are many, many shades of that that we’re talking about. But nowhere are we saying, ‘Sit down, this is what we’re trying to tell you.’ It’s not done in that way at all.”
on her own upbringing, crediting her sister for helping normalise conversations around sex education at home. “I was thankful that I got to grow up with a sister like mine. She was very proactive about bringing me on board with the right conversations that needed to be had.”
She hopes the series encourages families to have similar discussions. “I was, in fact, very happy that we are talking about this so that we kind of encourage people to not be awkward about it and that they do have these conversations in their households.”
‘Deep-rooted conditioning is the biggest reason’
Asked why society still struggles to understand the simple idea of “no means no” even today, Mithila pointed to years of conditioning. “I think why we haven’t spoken about it, or why we’re still awkward about it, is deep-rooted conditioning. That is the simplest one-sentence answer. Because for so many years, our representation has been that. It’s never like, ‘Oh, she said no.’ It’s always that she said no, but ‘uske na mein haan hai.‘ That has been the perspective.”
According to the actor, such portrayals have contributed to a culture where personal boundaries are often ignored. “So, generally, all of the boundaries have not been respected. Consent has not really been taken into consideration. Any conditioning that has been so deep-rooted for many, many years is going to take a lot of time to change.”
Murli Sharma and Mithila Palkar in the lead and is among the first Telugu series to tackle themes of sex education and consent through humour. The series released on July 2 on Netflix.