Joseph (2018 film)


Joseph is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film directed by M. Padmakumar and written by Shahi Kabir. It stars Joju George, Dileesh Pothan, Irshad, Athmiya Rajan, Johny Antony, Sudhi Koppa, Malavika Menon, and Madhuri Braganza. The story, an investigation thriller, develops through the life of four retired policemen. Some scenes in movie is based on real life experience from the writer, Shahi Kabir. Joju won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Character Actor and a special mention in the National Awards 2018 for the film. The film is being remade in Kannada as Ravi Bopanna starring V. Ravichandran. The core theme of the movie has many similarities with Benyamin's novel 'Sareerasaasthram'.

Plot

Peter receives a medal from police. After the ceremony, while Peter and Joseph's friends are traveling in a taxi, the driver inquires the cause for receiving the medal. The story then shifts to Joseph, a retired policeman who has unique and sharp investigation skills. A lonely Joseph is separated from his wife Stella, the latter who then marries Peter. He is then called by the SP of police to investigate a crime scene involving the murder of an old couple. He then reaches the crime scene and investigates. Upon questioning the people present at the crime scene it is revealed that a guy called Manu was the first one to witness the incident when he came to supply milk to their house and he was the one who informed the police. Joseph after questioning the members present at the crime scene resorts to go for a drink with one of the workers who was helping to remove the corpse away from the crime scene. They decide to go to Manu's house for booze. He then sends Manu to get a Pepsi for him. When Manu comes back he is shocked to find police in his house and Joseph declares Manu as the culprit. The police then arrest Manu and it is revealed that Joseph turns out to be actually reliable after he presented various findings to the SP of police.
After a few days, Joseph is shocked to hear the accident of his wife and rushes to the hospital to inquire about her condition. His friends find out that Joseph still loves Stella and then inquires what was their reason for separation. Joseph then reveals that a few years earlier when he went to investigate a crime scene, while examining the corpse, he was shocked to find out that the decaying corpse was of his ex-lover Lisamma and this incident really haunted him to the extent that even the touch of his wife started reminding him of the decaying corpse of his once beautiful lover. He was afraid to reveal this fact to his wife, which made him alcoholic and kept him detached from his wife. Finally, Stella gets a divorce and Joseph demands to keep their daughter with him. The scene then shifts to the present. After a while his wife is declared brain dead and is requested for the donation of her organs by the doctor.
Joseph reaches the scene of crime where his wife met with the accident. Joseph and his friends get the car number from the tea shop owner who also describe the incident as seen by him. Joseph guesses that the car number would be a fake one which proved to be true when the friends try to trace the number. Joseph finds out that when his wife fell her forearm would have got the maximum injury and in no way a head injury would have happened, or couldn't find anything to cause such an injury. Joseph tracks all the second hand used cars of the car model recognized by the eye witness and traces the id. And always made sure an eye witness is present so as to make the case a hit and run rather than a murder. Joseph tells his friends that when a new sim is taken by the lady who traveled in the car, a new crime happens within 48 hrs.
Joseph visits a girl for whom his daughter's heart was transplanted and finds her to be sick as before the transplantation. Joseph tells the girl's mother to meet his cardiologist friend for checking up the girl's persisting sickness. Later, Joseph tracks some information about a new second used car that got sold in the hospital locality and arranges his friends to follow it. But on the day when the black used car comes out, Josephs friends' car gets punctured and they were unable to follow that car. His friends try to call Joseph but he didn't pick up the phone. Joseph traveling in his bike mimicking the path traveled by his wife was hit down by the killer Jeep and then picked up by the couple in the black used car. Joseph is taken inside the operation theater.
Scene shifts to the high court. Advocate tells that Joseph has given strong evidence of the crime conducted in the name of organ transplantation for one crore from each hospital for organ transplant in the place of ten lakhs profit made if the patient is to be treated to become well. Scene shifts to a flashback showing Joseph's bike fitted with a camera at its rear which records the event. The killers' jeep comes and hits him down and he is being picked up by a couple in a black used car. Inside the black used car, a camera which was earlier fitted by Joseph's friend shows the female hitting Joseph's head with a hammer rendering him brain damaged and finally, he gets operated as an organ donor.
Scene again shifts to a flashback showing Joseph. He is told by his cardiologist friend that the aforementioned transplantation had no effect for the girl as if it was not done. Joseph tracks some big hospital records which show transplantation was done for foreigners on the same day that his daughter's organ was donated and Stella's organs were also donated to a foreigner. So Joseph tracked a high priority list for AB group which was matching his own group, to come under the focus of the hospital in killing him Joseph conducted a trial suicide previously by cutting his vein and getting admitted in the hospital for listing himself as a possible donor of the rare group. Joseph was spied on by the hospital's arranged killers to watch his daily activities. Finally, Joseph punctures his friend's car by himself so that the crime gets conducted in the usual manner, gets recorded and full evidence should be there. Joseph's organs also got transplanted for foreigners. Joseph dedicated his own body for proof showing the crime conducted by the hospital for organ transplantation so that the culprits should not be saved in the name of lack of evidence. Some rules for organ transplantation are mentioned which will stop all sorts of false organ transplantation. The movie ends up with Peter receiving the medal in the name of Joseph.

Cast

The songs were composed by Ranjin Raj, while the film score was composed by Anil Johnson

Reception

Joseph ran for 125 days.

Controversy

The film was criticised by Indian Medical Association for depicting a plot which included murder of potential donors for the sake of organ transplantation scam, on the backdrop of reducing numbers of organ transplantation in Kerala during recent years mainly due to stricter laws.
In an interview to The Hindu, the writer Shahi Kahir responded that he didn't intend to create a scare about Mrithasanjeevani , but an attempt to prevent a crime. He narrowed on the topic after several discussions about organ donation in public platforms including social media.

Awards