JOIN USJohn Jani Janardhan
Kannada (U/A) ***
Cast: Ajay Rao, Krishna Nagappa, Yogesh, Kamna Ranawat, Sreenivasamurthy, Girija Lokesh
Director: Guru Deshpande
Inspired by the 2015 Malayalam film Amar Akbar Anthony (not Manmohan Desai’s Amitabh-Vinod Khanna-Rishi Kapoor starrer), Guru Deshpande comes up with an interesting and ingenious John Jani Janardhan. Entertain, engage and educate is his motto.
Faithful to the original, the film drives home the homily through over-the-top, below-the-belt, nonstop humour.
Through his three happy-go-lucky buddies — John, Jani and Janardhan — whose only pastime is drunken binge and ogling at women, Deshpande seeks to spotlight on one’s social responsibility, while keeping the fun factor intact.
Janardhan — a mini-kart kids driver at a mall — tries to woo a girl by boasting that he is a pilot. Jani is handicapped lift operator from the family of a body builder. John is a pizza delivery boy. The threesome’s only mission is to jet away to Thailand to realise their dream of a fun-filled time among beaches, bikini beauties and massage parlours.
Even as once-bitten-twice-shy Jani tries to fan sense into John and Janardhan, the two lust upon local beauty Kamna Ranawat. Focusing on the trio’s pranks, Deshpande also touches upon communal harmony, and says one should not shirk away from social responsibility towards others. He also weaves another social malaise of child molestation into the story, with a paedophile on prowl providing an element of mystery to the chucklesome tale.
The cast comes up with passable performances. The film’s main stay is the music score of Anjun Janya.
S Viswanath