Johny Johny Yes Appa Review: A perfectly balanced blend of humour, emotions and drama

Johny Johny Yes Appa Review: A perfectly balanced blend of humour, emotions and drama

This Kunchacko Boban-starrer is bolstered by a solid script with well-rounded characters
Rating:(4 / 5)

G Marthandan's Johny Johny Yes Appa is a film that looks much better than it did in the promos, which made it seem like just another run-of-the-mill entertainer made to please family audiences. What a delightful surprise this turned out to be! The film is bolstered by a solid script with well-rounded characters. It's a laugh-out-loud comedy with humour that works. There are, however, a few logical inconsistencies, but these can be easily overlooked.

I don't know if the script was written with the cast in mind but after having seen the film, I cannot imagine anyone else playing the principal characters. With a structure that has much in common with a family-friendly sitcom, the story also presents a significant conflict appearing at the right time to pose a challenge for its central character, Johny (Kunchacko Boban), the second and most loved of the three sons of Vijayaraghavan, who plays a staunchly conservative father.

Director: G Marthandan

Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Sharaf U Dheen, Tini Tom, Anu Sithara

The eldest Peter (Tini Tom) and youngest Philip (Sharaf U Dheen) are not held in high regard by their father, and this has naturally caused a noticeable strain in their relationship. Johny is the 'saint' among them, but the other two brothers are aware of the truth, and they are eagerly waiting for every opportunity they can get to call him out for his misdeeds. Yes, Johny is a character with grey shades, but this is a Kunchacko Boban film after all: redemption must be somewhere around the corner.

We see in the opening scenes that Johny was a conniving thief right from his childhood, sometimes even stealing from his father. The blame, however, always falls on Peter and consequently scars him for life. After he grows up, Peter is banished from home, but for another reason: he has married a girl from a different caste. There is an amusing twist to Peter's story which we learn in the second half.

Philip, on the other hand, is an aimless and jobless engineering graduate. Just like Peter, he has a beef with Johny mostly owing to the fact that the latter gets most of the attention and he gets none. It was only a few weeks back that we saw Sharaf as a menacing, perverted thug Josey in Varathan, and the actor once again surprises us with another confident and unhinged performance. 

Philip is the exact opposite of Josey, he is a lovable buffoon, a man-child who constantly gets into some sort of mischief. It's Sharaf who gets the film's best lines and the best moments. 

Though the romance between Johny and Jaisa (Anu Sithara) is nothing to write home about, it manages to create the necessary warmth owing to the splendid chemistry between the lead pair. This chemistry did wonders for last year's Ramante Edanthottam. And what I loved about Jaisa is the fact that, despite being the daughter of controlling parents, she is not a damsel in distress. She is capable of making her own decisions and isn't afraid to stand up to her parents. And she doesn't hesitate to chide her lover whenever he is in the wrong. 

The entrance of a few unexpected characters (Mamta Mohandas playing one of them) takes the story to a slightly serious and melodramatic terrain in the second half. But the poignant moments are thankfully smoothed out and made bearable by the funny escapades of Sharaf, Kalabhavan Shajon (as Jaisa's affluent father, who resembles a hip-hop artist with all the thick gold jewellery he is wearing), and Abu Salim (as Shajon's right-hand man who embarrasses his master on multiple occasions). If not for the much-needed interruptions by these three, the second half would've been a bit of a drag.

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