The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
Netflix turns Shakeela's 'Driving School' slang into sex education — Abby 2024 Grand Prix
Maitri made a five-minute Malayalam sketch where actress Shakeela runs a driving school that teaches sex ed — it went viral and won the Abby 2024 Grand Prix.
Netflix · Maitri Advertising Works
What it had to solve
Sex Education, Netflix's sex-positive comedy-drama, was releasing its final season, but open discussion of sex is still taboo in much of India. Netflix India wanted a launch film that could start the conversation locally, especially in the south, where Malayalam actress Shakeela's adult film 'Driving School' had turned the phrase into street slang.
How it works
When the final season of Netflix's Sex Education arrived in September 2023, the show's sex-positive comedy had to be promoted in a market where open talk about sex remains taboo. Netflix India's answer was a five-minute Malayalam sketch built around Shakeela, the 1990s screen siren whose adult film 'Driving School' had made the phrase part of everyday street slang.
In 'Shakeela's Driving School', a young couple shows up to learn driving and finds Shakeela as the instructor. Every driving instruction doubles as a sex-education lesson: consent comes first, then safety, respect for sexual orientations, self-pleasure, and the harm of slut-shaming — seven guiding principles delivered with humour, patience and zero preaching. Maitri's team pitched the risky idea to Netflix directly, wanting to take a derogatory term and turn it into education and empowerment.
The film became one of Netflix India's best-performing assets on release, went viral and started conversations across Kerala and beyond. At Goafest 2024 it won the Creative Abby Grand Prix — the first Grand Prix for a Kerala agency — and the campaign added a silver, a bronze and five shortlists, cementing a shift toward original content made in India's regional languages rather than dubbed global ads.
Why it lands
- Shakeela's 'Driving School' was already street slang for sex, so the casting was instantly legible in Kerala while reclaiming the phrase.
- The sketch delivered real education — consent, safety, orientations, self-pleasure — inside a comedy, so the message travelled as entertainment.
- A five-minute film in the local language let Netflix speak to the south in its own cultural idiom instead of dubbing a global spot.
- Viral distribution made the idea one of Netflix India's best-performing assets without paid-media bluster.
What it did
On release the film was one of Netflix India's best-performing assets, went viral and sparked nationwide conversation about sex education and consent. It won the Creative Abby Grand Prix at Goafest 2024 — the first Grand Prix ever for a Kerala agency — alongside a silver, a bronze and five shortlists.
What you can take
When a word or persona carries stigma, let the stigmatised figure deliver the re-education: the irony disarms the taboo, makes the message unmissable, and turns a slur into an asset.
Since then
The campaign won the Creative Abby Grand Prix at Goafest 2024, the first Grand Prix for a Kerala agency, plus a silver, a bronze and five shortlists at the same festival. Maitri credited the win to Netflix's support and to the industry's shift toward original content in five South Indian languages, and the film became a reference case for region-first streaming promotion in India.
Sources
- Netflix India ropes in Shakeela to promote Sex Education season 4
- Maitri Advertising bags Grand Prix, multiple accolades at Goafest 2024
- Maitri Advertising Works wins Grand Prix at ABBY Awards 2024
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