Joe (2023 film)

Joe is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Hariharan Ram S. in his directorial debut. The film stars Rio Raj in the titular role as well as Malavika Manoj and Bhavya Trikha featuring in lead roles, whilst the plot of the film is formed around Joe's emotional journey about love. The film was released theatrically on 24 November 2023 to positive reviews from critics and completed 50 days at the box office.

2008
In Rameshwaram, Joe and his friends go to another school for an inter-school competition. Whilst his friends get ready, Joe and his friends Ganesh and Santha turn up late, incurring the wrath of their dance master - who forbids them from entering the school. However, they sneak in and proceed to bump into Vinoth, one of the students of the other school. Joe slaps him and Vinoth threatens him. Whilst looking for Santha, Joe gets into a fight with Vinoth and he escapes the inter-school competition with Santha and Ganesh.

2019
Joe and his friends are having drinks at his bachelor party, when Shruthi, his fiancé, calls him to cancel the wedding on her request. However, he drinks through the night and proceeds to recall his old memories in 2010.

2010
Joe is a freshman at an engineering college, and falls head over heels for Suchithra when he sees her cry. Joe wooes her through numerous methods, and wins Suchi over - defending her against one of the Kerala seniors in the end. Whilst Suchi eventually reciprocates his love, her family disapproves of her budding romance with Joe and get into an argument with him. After Suchi misunderstands Joe laying hands on her father during the argument, she tells Joe to leave and he tells her that she will regret it. Joe leaves her house, heartbroken, and resorts to alcohol to get him through the pain.

A couple months pass by and Joe is still heartbroken and now an alcoholic. When his friends try and console him, a Facebook notification from a friend on Santha's phone appears showing Suchi now engaged with another man. Upon hearing this, Joe reveals that he had, in fact, tied the knot with Suchi and demands that they go to see her in Kerala. They arrive, only to see everyone mourning over Suchithra. When Joe arrives, her cousins beat him up, citing him as the reason for her death. However, Suchi's father threatens to kill them if they lay a finger on Joe and states that he wasn't the reason for her suicide but the fact that she was loyal to him, and even if she married Joe, she could only think about when Joe slapped her father and how Suchi saw it as a form of humilation.

After the funeral, Joe can't get over her death and resorts to excessive alcohol abuse and fights with other people to solve his heartbreak. He shows regret in not telling Suchi that he wasn't in the wrong, and mixes something in his drink - leading to a trip in the hospital. His mother slaps him when he returns from the hospital, disappointed in his view of ‘love at first sight’ and how they worked hard for him over themselves. Joe then realises that to get over his previous heartbreak and to make his parents happy, he has to get married.

2019
Preparations for Joe and Shruthi's wedding are underway, including the drinks at Joe's bachelor party. Shruthi's father convinces her that Joe is the right man for her. Shruthi is angry at Joe for tying the thaali, after she told him to cancel the wedding. Before their first night, Santha tells him that he was the one that answered Shruthi's call to call off the wedding. Joe then realises why Shruthi was angry during their wedding. Shruthi proceeds to avoid Joe, out of anger and spite and this leads to Joe getting drunk during a routine police stop and her father having to bail him out. On the ride back to their place, Shruthi’s father offers Joe a job at their college, suggesting that him not being close with Shruthi is impacting their marriage. When Joe returns from the police station, Shruthi is livid at him for making her dad go to the police station to pick him up. They get into an argument and Shruthi gets scared when Joe lays his hands on her to hear him out.

Joe asks Renu, her sister, whether there was anything wrong about the marriage. She states that whilst Shruthi wasn't interested in the marriage, she hoped that it would be fine after marriage and encourages Joe to be with her to ensure this. Joe asks Shruthi’s co-workers at her college about her and finds out that she maintains a professional mindset but something is holding her back personally.

After a misunderstanding between the college security, his wife Padma and herself, Shruthi comes to reassure Padma that she will be fine and apologises for jumping to abrupt conclusions. She leans on Padma's shoulder quietly and regrets being rude to Joe - after Renu reveals to her one night that Joe was drunk the night she called to tell him to cancel their marriage and Santha picked up the call instead and ever since they got married, Joe wanted to talk to her about it. Feeling remorseful about this, she wants to apologise and reveal her past.

Once school culturals are done and over with, Joe looks for Shruthi after she is called to solve a problem between Renu and Shakthi, her ex-boyfriend. Joe disciplines both Renu and Shakthi respectively about the problem at hand and Shruthi is apologetic towards Joe for avoiding him and being rude. She tells him that there is another man in her life and Joe chooses to find him, for her sake. They go back to Joe's house and are welcomed; Joe leaves instantly to the playground and his friend Praveen picks Shruthi up.

On the way to the playground, Shruthi asks what happened to Suchithra and Praveen reveals to her that Suchi committed suicide, which harmed everyone close to her and Shruthi's choice to reunite with the other man in her life is a smarter decision. As Shruthi meets Joe in the playground, she tells Joe that she wants to talk to him but he has found the man that Shruthi was looking for and tells her to go and meet him. She walks up to him and finds out the man he has found is none other than Vinoth. It is revealed that Shruthi had a crush on Vinoth during her school days and when she confessed her love to him, he proceeded to touch her inappropriately during the inter-school competition in 2008. Shruthi tells Joe that she is in love with the boy that saved her from Vinoth and fought him - which was Joe when he had come for the inter-school competition. For the last 10 years, she had been trying to find Joe - when he was right by her side after they were married. The pair reunite, happily.

Production
Hariharan Ram S. made his directorial debut through the film, and cast his friend Rio Raj in the titular role. Production on the film took place throughout 2022 for 37 days, and was completed by January 2023. Scenes were shot in places including Rameswaram, Dhanushkodi, Pollachi, Chennai, and Coimbatore.

Soundtrack
The music was composed by Siddhu Kumar.

Release and reception
The film had a theatrical release on 24 November 2023 across Tamil Nadu. A critic from Times of India noted that the film "a decent romance that could have cut deeper" and "for a film involving college life and youth, it is a very mindful film that gets its political messaging right". A reviewer from Cinema Express wrote that "weak writing pulls down this well-executed film" and that "if only the writing was better planned, the film would have been more than just an 'average Joe'". A reviewer from South First wrote that "Hariharan Ram comes up with a satisfying romantic drama".