This road-trip drama takes the safer, cliched route

It’s this optimism and open-heartedness that makes Prakash such an endearing character, and Sai Chand does complete justice to his part. There is also a great monologue in the flashback sequence about courage being the true force to exist, whereas fears need to be treated as lies or myths.

However, Abhilash’s script lacks the necessary thoroughness to bring out the emotional core of the story at hand. The emotional punches do not land well because the characters and their interpersonal dynamics aren’t etched out with enough depth.

We are told that Johnny has been raised well by his father Srinivas (Sayaji Shinde), which leads to a major payoff towards the end. However, we aren’t granted enough evidence to establish any sense of guidance that Srinivas could have provided to his son, despite being distant—it almost feels like Johnny raised himself.

The other equations are all undercooked as well, be it Johnny’s relationship with his work friend Satya or with his girlfriend. There are so many potential segments that could have been used to underline the evolving relationship between Johnny and Prakash. There are standalone moments that attempt to reach out to you emotionally, like the first time Johnny addresses Prakash as his father, but in its totality, Maa Nanna Superhero is not consistent as a character-driven drama.

Johnny is an interestingly grey-shaded character because he can play between the moral extremes. He might be capable of con and deceit to meet his gains, but he is also prone to showing great empathy towards a mean man, because the latter also happens to be a father to a little girl.

No matter how a man conducts himself morally, his stature as a good parent should never crumble down, Johnny tells the mean neighbour at a point. Sudheer Babu plays the character with the required aloofness, never trying to make Johnny too likeable or sympathetic. Sayaji Shinde as Srinivas is sadly underutilised, though, except for a few scenes early on and in the climax, the actor barely has anything to do.