Joker (2016 film)

Cast

Plot

Joker is a political satire which criticises the present political absurdities. Mannar Mannan (Protagonist), a rural villager, who self declares himself as President of India, always protests Government for all the absurdities happening around his village. Most of the time he is seen as a Joker. He's trailed at court for his various continuous acts. There comes his past, where he loves a beautiful girl from his near by village. The girl is willing to marry him only if he could build a toilet at his home. Government announces a toilet scheme through which all the villagers will get toilet at their homes throughout India. President plans to visit a village and he chose protagonist's village. What happens when the President comes? is toilet built at their home? did they get married? answers protagonist's act of declaring himself as President. At the end, the audiences are questioned for their involvement in opposing absurdities (who's the real Jokers)!

Production

Somasundaram says, 'Working with Raju Murugan was very good and organic. Organic means, the procedures involved in film making, which included exhaustive script discussions. In the pre-production stage itself, we decided on everything, from the look of a character to the manner of dialogue delivery to the costumes to everything. We completed 90% of the film through rehearsals and then only went to shoot. It was fantastic working with a director like Raju Murugan who is very clear about what he wanted.' The film was completely shot in the regions surround Dharmapuri in late 2015. Talking about the film, Raju Murugan says, ‘This film was completely shot in Dharmapuri. We’ve also managed to get the localities of Dharmapuri to play key roles in the film. The problems of modern India have been narrated in a humorous manner'. The movie is produced by S. R. Prakashbabu and S. R. Prabhu through their production house Dream Warrior Pictures. While speaking to press, S. R. Prabhu said that, "he was supposed to produce Raj Murugan’s debut directorial Cuckoo, but things didn’t go on as well due to some reasons, but now is elated to have his film produced by Dream Warrior Pictures". During the press meet, Raju Murugan said, “I am not sure if Joker will click as a super hit in box office, but am happy for having made a good film". Censor board has given "Unrestricted Public Exhibition" rating for this movie for India. Also the director said, "Soon after my first film, I happened to travel all over the country and found certain things among the people with poverty and this inspired me to write a plot based on this".

This movie emphasis the necessity of toilets for all rural homes. Even the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed this issue. Hence medias are asking Prime Minister to watch the film. In the movie, protagonist thinks himself as The President of India. Joker explores different side of me, says Guru Somasundaram. Superstar of Tamil Cinema Padma Vibhushan Rajnikath praised Joker team. Justice Kirupakaran of the Chennai High Court has observed that Joker is certainly a ‘good film’ which deserved exemption from entertainment tax. Joker has been selected for screening under Tamil Film competition for 14th Chennai International Film Festival to be held in January 2017 at Chennai.

Awards

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Sean Roldan. Behindwoods gave it a 3.25/5 saying that "the album is like a thought provoking musical journey with its own take on satires and the incomplete aspects of life!" Indiaglitz gave it a 3.2/5, calling it a "period set apotheosis." Most of the singers are folks artist native to Dharmapuri where the movie was filmed.