Isn’t it our votes that brings them to power?
But when they are unjust... don’t we have the right to bring them down?
These dialogues at the beginning of the trailer of Raju Murugan’s Joker establishes at the very start the space that this Tamil film aims to place itself in. Released on 12 August, just a few days before independence day, this low-budget political satire is getting rave reviews and catching the attention of not just the film going public, but the Tamil film industry as well.
In a rare gesture, mega star Rajinikanth, who hardly posts messages on social media, made an exception and tweeted about the film on Thursday.
Another Tamil star who’s become a fan of Joker is Dhanush. The actor posted a picture of the team behind the film and called them “the Kings who made Joker”:
According to Tamil film trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai, Joker is already on its way to becoming a sleeper hit. The film, which reportedly cost Rs 3 crore, has already grossed Rs 2.7 crore by Wednesday.
Joker is essentially a “message movie” with a soulful love story tucked in. The film is lead by a protagonist (Guru Somasundaram) who thinks he is the President of India and a flashback reveals his romance with a girl (Ramya Pandian) who insists she will not marry someone who does not have a toilet in his house, thus bringing in the issue of open defecation into the narrative. But that’s just one of the many social issues that the film tackles.
Noted film critic Baradwaj Rangan called Joker an affecting drama despite its preachiness. A film without stars and the usual Kollywood cliches, Sreedhar Pillai terms Raju Murugan’s latest as a path-breaking film in Tamil, which will give others the courage to make different cinema instead of chasing stars.
In an interview with The Hindu, Murugan reveals how he went on a pan-Indian trip to scout for a story before zeroing in on the idea of Joker. The film tries to highlight the downside of globalisation.
Nobody talks about poverty any more, maybe because everybody now has a smartphone. But do all of them have access to toilets?Raju Murugan (Director, Joker)
The public backing via Twitter by none other than Rajinikanth is expected to give this little film a big push at the box-office. Now if only it also helped the makers distribute the film beyond the south with subtitles, so that the rest of India could also enjoy this cinematic gem.