Direction & Writer : Raju Murugan
Producer : S. R. Prakashbabu, S. R. Prabhu
Cast : Guru Somasundaram, Ramya Pandian
Music : Sean Roldan
Cinematography : Chezhiyan
Editor : Shanmugam Velusamy
Production company : Dream Warrior Pictures
Running Time : 130 mins
Having been a writer of best stories, Raju Murugan made his debut directorial through the film ‘Cuckoo’ that garnered immense response. His second outing ‘Joker’ is hitting screens today and is based on a political satire featuring Guru Somasundaram in lead role.
The film is set in a sub-urban backdrop of Dharmapuri, where we come across a person named Mannar Mannan (played by Guru Somasundaram). He has been a barrier to almost all the officials at Government offices, Court, Police Station, Collector officer and so on. He is someone, who comes up with unique kind of protests and hunger fasts grabbing everyone’s attention against the corruption and social evils. What actually made him to come up with such aggressive nature is narrated in a much explanatory flashback.
As the story unfolds by the beginning, the first few minutes say around 25 minutes would be making you guess why the protagonist is seen like a lunatic, but as the story gets into the flashback, the justification is done with the characterizations and the dramatic events that actually paved him the way to become a hilarious yet rational protestor. Major portions of the film is dominated by strong dialogues and they are worthy of appreciations. But what we get to grasp the film on whole is like documentary drama, which might not be completely appealing to general audiences. There is a lack of some drama and too much of preachy words that might be clapped up for praiseworthy social satire based on dialogues, but it wouldn’t alone help the film for the best results. The spellbinding performance of the entire star-cast is one of the biggest plus, especially Guru Somasundaram. We saw him in small but powerful roles in movies like Aaranya Kaandam and Jigarthanda. Over here, he has made every act so much proficient with the naturalistic approach. Gayathri brings up some realistic approach to the role and debut actor Ramya Pandian has done remarkable performance too.
Raju Murugan has deeply been inspired by his real life encounters by taking a journey into the villages and he has very well captured the moments. The dramatic events involving love, sentiments and emotions in the flashback sequences have been very well portrayed.
Sean Roldan’s songs are okay, but he loses to offer the best on background score. Cinematography by Chezhian is worthy of appreciations that has eye catching visuals.
Although, the film ‘Joker’ can be regarded as an exceptional film that speaks about the realistic issues in our every day society, but since it is set against the village backdrops, it might have a passable reach across the city audiences and if Raju Murugan had kept away from too many preachy lines, it would have added up some intensity for the viewers.
