KOCHI: Imagine this. An unemployed, stingy, freeloader, your average ‘Johny’, ends up living rent-free in an empty house. As he goes bounty hunting around the place, he finds an old box. Hoping to find a bottle of champagne, he opens it and boom! A genie pops out! If this bizarre intro got you hooked, then you must check out Jin & Johnny, the Malayalam web series presented by Kottayam-based duo Amal Thaha, aka Thaha Thug, and Sebastian P V, aka Sebootty.
The duo’s natural screen presence and effortless acting got them plenty of followers in the past couple of years on Instagram. “It all happened quite unexpectedly. We were classmates from kindergarten till Class XII. Then Amal left to pursue engineering, and I stayed back to study CA. Later, when he returned, we started making Vines-like videos, just out of boredom. But somehow, they went viral, and here we are,” quips Sebastian. But are they glad how this turned out? “Definitely,” adds Sebastian and Amal agrees.
The duo was previously featured on ‘Karikku’, the Malayalam web series. Jin and Johny currently has three episodes uploaded under the banner Alambanz (translates to troublemakers). But they are no trouble at all. Instead, this series will easily amuse you with the signature Sebootty zest, an accessorised Amal with a fully-shaved head, and plenty of plot twists. The two friends caught attention for their quirky presentation of real-life absurdities.
“Most of them are right out of our lives,” says Amal, citing a video they did about family groups on Whatsapp. “We might wonder if these things really happen. But they do. Just yesterday, I got one that spread some fake information about Covid threat,” adds Sebastian. Thriving on social media is a hard and tricky job, and these two have done it like it is cakewalk.
“We cannot make everyone happy. But we definitely take feedback. We started off recording videos on friends’ phones. But today we have a team that is making Jin and Johnny possible,” says Amal, who was up all night fixing the script for the series. But the lockdown has them sitting in too. Viewers on Youtube were quite impressed by how soon the episodes were dropping, but the shoots are currently on hold. “That is our word out to everyone; stay in and be safe. We are doing our bit too, trying to work separately and plan things out now,” says Sebastian, remembering the jackfruit chips that await him after the interview call. “I played Ludo in the morning,” quips Amal.