It’s been said that ghosts are the spirits of the dead who still have unfinished business on earth, unable to pass into the afterlife until they accomplish their final tasks.
But what if that task is to watch the last episode of a never-ending soap opera?
This whimsical premise sets the stage for the primary conflict in the new Telugu film Subham, a supernatural comedy about husbands, wives, dead grandmas, and TV.
The film begins as almost a straightforward romantic comedy, with the courtship of Srinu (Harshith Reddy), who runs a cable TV company, and Sri Valli (Shriya Kontham), a modern woman with a college education and professional background. The pair hit it off and have a gentle affection, though Srinu’s two best pals, who are already married, fill his head with terrible advice about being an alpha male and asserting his dominance as the head of the household.
But Srinu faces another unexpected wrinkle in their newlywed relationship – every night, Sri Valli turns on the TV and zones out watching a goofy soap opera – which seems particularly confusing since she openly mocks the show and its fans.
But as it turns out, it’s not just him – as the other husbands of the neighborhood are also encountering the same strange phenomenon, and soon arrive at a horrifying truth: Every night, their wives are possessed by the spirits of dead grandmothers who won’t pass on until the finished watching Janma Janmala Bandham, an awful long-running soap opera with no end in sight.
Virtually every description I’ve seen for Subham calls it a horror comedy, but while there’s a ghost angle, it’s not presented in a frightening way and certainly not what I would consider horror any more than I would Ghostbusters or Casper (both of which are probably scarier).
The boys consult a medium and try some different tricks to put a stop to the possessions, but finally decide the only way to get rid of the ghosts is to give them what they want: closure in the form of a series finale.
The film is plenty of fun with good-natured laughs, and also has a great underlying message about masculinity and macho strutting: Srinu’s pals, who had boasted about treating their wives subserviently, suddenly become meek as lambs and eager to appease their wives whenever the scary ghosts take over. Similarly, the film clearly champions Sri Valli as a modern woman – she’s educated, professionally motivated, and deserving of respect.
The film is produced by its own talented modern woman, actress-turned-producer Samantha Ruth Prabhu (known mononymously in India as simply Samantha), who also has a small role as the medium.
Subham is now playing in US theaters.
