Johnny (1980 film)

Johnny
LP Vinyl Records Cover
Directed by	J. Mahendran
Produced by	V. Gopinathan
Written by	J. Mahendran
Starring	Rajinikanth Sridevi Deepa Unnimary Prabhakar Reddy Kanchana
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	Ashok Kumar
Edited by	A. Paul Duraisingh
Production company	K. R. G Productions
Distributed by	K. R. G Productions
Release date	15 August 1980
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Johnny (1980) is a Tamil film directed by Mahendran. It had Rajinikanth and Sridevi in the main roles with Rajinikanth in a dual role.

Archana (Sridevi) is a popular singer, and Johnny (Rajinikanth) is her ardent fan. Johnny is a con-man who does petty-thefts (only on the greedy ones) to close the loan taken by his father. Johnny never misses Archana's concerts and she notices this. A tender love develops between the two, but Johnny is guarded in accepting Archana's love due to his not-so-clean background. But one day Johnny accepts the love of Archana when she proposes to him. Meanwhile, Vidyasagar (Rajinikanth), a barber, lives a lonely life with his assortment of pet animals. He falls for Bhama (Deepa) another loner and they both plan to marry. Vidyasagar notices his lover's infidelity and kills her in rage. Knowing about his look-alike Johnny and knowing that he is wanted by the police, he tries to pass on the murder charge to him and gives up on women as well looking at them in low light. Both of them are chased by police, Johnny hides in a forest, and Vidyasagar tries to pass of as Johnny by taking refuge in Archana's house. Archana gets hurt by the curt behavior of Vidyasagar(in the guise of Johnny) and she is confused on the same. Finally, Vidyasagar realizes his folly, understands not all women are same as well as their love and unites the lovers by getting caught in the police, taking responsibility of Johnny's crimes included.

Mahendran had a strong desire to make a film with Rajini at that time, hence he made this film simultaneously with Nenjathai Killathey. As the producer could not provide the equipment and facilities for the climax scene with a song, Mahendran was forced to use stock shots and manage to shoot with the limited facilities offered. However, by beautifully mixing the close up shots with stock shot, the scene came out well and was appreciated by everyone. This was the first time for which popular artistes Jayaraj designed the costumes. He first drew the illustrations of scenes with costumes and then got them stitched, bringing in newness and style in Rajinikanth's look which attracted the masses. The scene where Archana proposes Johnny was shot in Ooty in a bungalow atmidnight. When the scene was shot, the whole unit was silent, they saw only the characters of the film, not Rajini and Sridevi. After the scene was shot, Rajini appreciated Sridevi acting and mentioned to Mahendran that though he tried, she overshadowed in the scene.