By now one must have seen and read a lot about Akshay Kumar’s TOILET: Ek Prem Katha made with the noble motive of supporting the Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan initiative of Government of India, especially targeting the rural regions.
However, while going through most of the reviews or write-ups on the film, I could rarely find anyone writing or even mentioning the original and most important film on this burning subject, purposefully titled JOKER (Tamil/2016) that also won the NATIONAL AWARD for Best Tamil film along with winning more laurels at other reputed platforms.
Honestly it’s important to write about JOKER in particular as the film is not any comedy or a project made to please either the public or the authorities with its unpredictable content. On the contrary it is an emotionally shocking tragedy that sarcastically reveals the ugly face of our society and its corrupt system.
To give you a fair idea, JOKER doesn’t begin with its main subject of ‘Toilet in every home’ drive making the viewer a little restless. In its first 40 minutes it introduces and revolves revolving around a lunatic kind of character who considers himself the President of India, and keeps protesting against exploitation resulting in repeated arrests, remands and harsh beatings by the Police officials. But as soon as the long introduction gets over, we get to know the real reason behind his unstable state of mind which is entirely the outcome of the local government’s ‘Toilet building drive’ in his village and its drastic consequences.
In JOKER too we have a similar premise of a girl disagreeing to a marriage proposal received, since the person hasn’t got any toilet-facility in his home. But instead of presenting it all in a light comic manner (as seen in TOILET Ek Prem Katha), here the director boldly reveals the entire chain of corruption involved in such noble government schemes wherein the amount duly sanctioned never reaches the actual end-user and then the public is only blamed in the end for the non-completion of the project and their non-cooperation.
Interestingly, that still isn’t the major highlight of the film, as JOKER truly turns into an unexpectedly brutal shocker when the proceedings disclose its major twist wherein the four incomplete walls of a toilet and the shamelessly mean bureaucracy results in a sudden and painful death of an unborn child. The incident also turns the newly-married girl into a completely bed-ridden body and as the doctors declare no hope for her in medical terms, the husband takes the matter to the court appealing for Euthanasia or merciful release of a soul, only to be denied by the law. As a result, we get to witness another unpredictable, painful climax leaving us in a thinking mode.
Written and directed by Raju Murugan, JOKER has a worth praising cinematography and music too along with all impressive and realistic performances from the entire cast (including some debut artists).
In a few words, though this JOKER is also about the same TOILET shown in the now famous Akshay Kumar film. But it isn’t interested in pleasing anyone at all (including the viewers), depicting the actual ground reality and the hardships faced by the people living in such remote regions. So watch it at the earliest and do yourself a favour exploring the not to be missed Gems from our Indian Regional Language cinema that is far far ahead than the glossy Hindi films.
Ratings : Movies To See Before You Die
Tags :
JOKER (Tamil/2016) Review by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, National Award Winning Film, Worth Watching Indian Regional Language Gems, Must Watch Indian Regional Language Movies List by Bobby Sing, Movies To See Before You Die List at bobbytalkscinema.com
