Mera Naam Joker

Mera Naam Joker
Film poster
Directed by	Raj Kapoor
Produced by	Raj Kapoor
Screenplay by	K. A. Abbas; Manoj Kumar (Part-1)
Story by	K. A. Abbas
Starring	Raj Kapoor Simi Garewal Manoj Kumar Rishi Kapoor Dharmendra Dara Singh Kseniya Ryabinkina Padmini Rajendra Kumar
Music by	Shankar Jaikishan
Cinematography	Radhu Karmakar
Editing by	Raj Kapoor
Distributed by	R. K. Films
Release date(s)	December 18, 1970
Running time	255 mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Mera Naam Joker (Hindi: मेरा नाम जोकर, Urdu: میرا نام جوکر, translation: My Name is Joker) is a 1970 Hindi film directed by Raj Kapoor. The screenplay was written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. This film was the debut of Rishi Kapoor. Mera Naam Joker is a film about a clown who must make his audience laugh at the cost of his own sorrows. The film is reportedly inspired by Raj Kapoor's own life and the clown an allegory for his own life as an actor.^{[citation needed]}

Plot

Mera Naam Joker is the story of Raju, whose father was considered the best circus clown ever. Ever since he died in an accident during his performance, Raju's mother had always been repulsed by the circus. As luck would have it, Raju had a natural affinity towards the circus world. The film traces Raju's journey from his childhood to the day of his last performance.

Mera Naam Joker is divided into 3 chapters. The first chapter is about the adolescent Raju where he is infatuated with his teacher Mary (Simi Garewal). Here Raju comes to the realise that he was born to make the world laugh, even through his own troubles.

After his first heartbreak, the story moves on to the adult Raju who is working with Gemini Circus as a clown. The circus is owned by Mahendra Singh (Dharmendra). Here he meets Marina (Kseniya Ryabinkina), a Russian trapeze artist. Despite the language barrier he manages to fall in love with her, and dreams of a married life with her. But Raju faces heartbreak once again when the circus ends and Marina returns to Russia. It is in this chapter that Raju's mother dies just before Raju's performance, and he has to go up on stage regardless.

In the final chapter, Raju meets Meena (Padmini), a woman who has ambitions of becoming a famous actress. By this point, Raju is a derelict and earns some money through manual labour. Meena befriends him and manages to win his heart only to dump him in the end due to her lust for success.

Raju always carries a clown doll which belonged to his father. Every time he fell in love, he gifted his beloved doll, only to see it come back to him. The doll is used as a metaphor for Raju's simplistic heart where there is room for everyone.

Reaction

Six years in the making, with Raj Kapoor investing much of his own personal fortune, Mera Naam Joker flopped at the box office.^[1] In later years, however, the film has garnered critical praise.^{[citation needed]}

Running times

Many different cuts of the film are known to exist. Both the IMDb and the movie's censor certificate list the film's length as being 6989.50 metres (255 minutes). According to the Chicago Reader, the original running time was 5 hours.^[2] The international DVD release from Yash Raj Films Home Entertainment runs for 233 minutes (224 with the disc's PAL speed-up), while the Indian DVD by Shemaroo Entertainment is heavily cut at 184 minutes. Mera Naam Joker is the first Hindi movie to have two intervals. ^[3]

Trivia

The 1st part of the film (the Rishi Kapoor-Simi Garewal story) was written by Manoj Kumar. Although he has not been credited as one of the writers, this fact was acknowledged by Raj Kapoor & recently by Manoj Kumar on the show "Total Recall" on Headlines Today.

Cast

• Raj Kapoor – Raju (The Joker)
• Manoj Kumar – David
• Simi Garewal – Mary
• Rishi Kapoor – Young Raju
• Dharmendra – Mahendra
• Dara Singh – Sher Singh
• Kseniya Ryabinkina – Marina
• Padmini – Meena
• Rajendra Kumar – Himself
• Achala Sachdev – Raju's Mother
• Eduard Sjereda – Member of the Soviet State Circus

Awards

• Filmfare Best Music Director Award- Shankar Jaikishan
• Filmfare Best Cinematographer Award- Radhu Karmakar
• Filmfare Best Male Playback Award- Manna Dey for the song "Ay bhai zara dekh ke chalo"
• Filmfare Best Director Award- Raj Kapoor
• Filmfare Best Sound Recordist- Allauddin Khan Qureshi

References

1. ^ Raj Kapoor in Boxofficeindia.com [1]
2. ^ Chicago Reader [2]
3. ^ Total Filmy. "About 'Mera Naam Joker'". Total Filmy. http://totalfilmy.com/about_mera_naam_joker.html. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 

External links

• Mera Naam Joker at the Internet Movie Database