Appan review: Endearing tale of a spiteful father and hurt son

If he lovingly called his father Appa, the way central Kerala Malayalis do, the older man would shout back, enthaada naari (what is it, scoundrel), Njoonju says. How could he then love his father, his Appan, he asks. Sunny Wayne looks like a lost man playing Njoonju, living a cursed life as the son of the most notorious man in that neighbourhood, Itty. With every single spat and outburst, Alencier Ley Lopez becomes the despicable Appan, formidable even when he is in bed, paralysed beneath the waist. Nearly everyone in the village wants him dead, and as the movie rolls, you can see why. Maju, director of the film, has given life to a breathtakingly original script, co-written with R Jayakumar.

This has to be one of the best performances of both Alencier and Sunny, one in turning into a horribly hateful character every moment he is on the screen, the other a contrasting, vulnerable and emotionally disturbed son. The bulk of the film takes place in an old fashioned house in the middle of rubber plantations where Njoonju goes to work alone early in the morning. His companion is his dad’s old friend Varghese, neatly portrayed by Anil K Sivaram.

The women of the house, especially the wife of Itty, Kuttiyamma, have stone-cold reactions to the old man’s loud curses in the day. Before you see Itty in his bed, you see Kuttiyamma (Pauly Wilson) cheerfully waking up from a nap, after dreaming about the horrible husband’s death. Pauly Wilson can switch expressions from anger to misery in a moment’s time, taking you down with her.

Watch: Trailer of the film

But it is Njoonju who tugs at your heartstrings, his pain all too visible, when even the mother he loves so deeply does not understand his situation. Njoonju is an Appan too, asking his little boy questions filled with unnecessary guilt – “will you look after your dad when I get unwell?”

Thankfully, he has got Rosy (Ananya in a beautifully contained performance), the very supportive wife, acting as a daughter to Kuttiyamma more than her own, who visits only for the money. Grace Antony neatly pulls off the stereotype of a greedy elder offspring, although this character is not so original, the late KPAC Lalitha having played several such in Sathyan Anthikad movies.

At a little more than two hours, the movie is still compact. Only the constant background music, full of pathos, is a misfit, prodding you to be sad in case the characters on screen had not conveyed it well. But they very well do, and you are left wondering how the family could be so patient with a man without a single good bone in him, not even sparing little children from his tirades. He laughs like a maniac every time he gets lecherous ideas or comes face to face with women other than the ones in the family. Here is where you mention Radhika Radhakrishnan who appears as Sheela and gives another sound performance.

The film has a predictable end, but it is one you still wait with bated breath for. Maju and team have given a fine product here.

Appan is streaming on SonyLIV.