Joker Review – Joker is a Tamil political satire film released in 2016. In a small town near Dharmapuri a common man Mannar Mannan assumes that he is the president of India and sets out to implement a vision of cleanliness and literacy to Indian citizens.
Joker, the name itself is a satire as it is by no means fun. It is a hard-hitting drama that highlights the corruption in every walk of life, many of which the ordinary man is so used to by now that it has become a walk of life. The one who raises voices against these is looked upon as suffering from mental illness.
Guru Somasundaram has given a very powerful performance as Mannar mannan. He is ably supported by rest of the crew. The first 45 minutes of the movie stays true to the satire genre. Although the scenes are funny it makes a strong statement against the present day politics. They have walked the line without pointing fingers to any political party. Every scene is crafted to hit at a social issue in a comical way. The collector not worried about the common man’s cry considering going to a function to distribute freebies to the voters, a shopkeeper watching cricket without listening to the cry that soft drinks are poisonous, those magnificent hoardings depicting the local minister as the famous movie characters, the toilet doors colors used for photo shoot drawn from our tri color. All are hilarious at the same time thought provoking.
However when the movie switches back to the flashback story it turns into a more melodramatic movie. Probably the director felt that was the only way to create an impact. I would have preferred the movie stayed to the tone of satire itself. The movie does talk about many social reforms including toilets for every home, banning sand mafia, illegal construction, lack of basic safety and more.
High Points: Political satire has worked out well, Performance of Guru Somasundaram is very good.
Low points: The length of the movie could have been done in 90 minutes to be more impactful, the melodrama could have been avoided for this genre.
Overall Joker is a movie that all of us should watch at least once. It is not only a well-made movie but calls for awakening.
Worth a watch
