Mera Naam Joker
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Mera Naam Joker (English: 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 for 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 supposed to be inspired by Raj Kapoor's own life and the clown an allegory for his own life as an actor. In the movie, the circus takes place of the celluloid world
Plot
Mera Naam Joker is the story of Raju, whose father was a considered to be the best circus clown ever. (Raj Kapoor's father- Prithviraj Kapoor was among the earliest Indian film heroes). Ever since Raju's father died in a trapeze accident during his performance, Raju's mother had always been repulsed by this world of ringmasters, sword-eaters, trapezes and lights. As luck would have it, Raju had a natural affinity towards this world where the "show must go on". The film traces Raju's journey right from his childhood to the day of his last performance.Mera Naam Joker is divided into 3 chapters. As is typical in Raj Kapoor movies, the ladies have a strong part to play. The first one is about the adolescent Raju where he is infatuated with his teacher Mary. Raju's realisation of the fact that he was born to make the world laugh, even when his heart is crying is true poetic stuff and has been captured on film in a simply brilliant manner.
After his first heartbreak, story moves on to the adult Raju who is working with Gemini Circus as a clown. The circus is owned by Dharmendra. Here he meets Marina, a Russian trapeze artist and despite the language barrier he manages to lose his heart to her, and dreams of a married life with her. But Raju faces a heart break once again when the circus is over 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 because the show must go on.
In the final chapter, Raju meets Meena, a woman who had big dreams and ambitions of becoming a famous actress, but is now struggling as a painter. She 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. One can see that 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 miserably at the box-office, plummetting the Kapoor family into a financial crisis until Raj Kapoor bounced back with Bobby. It was much later that Mera Naam Joker was acknowledged as one of the masterpieces of Indian cinema. The real life heroines like Nargis were the inspiration for the heroines in the movie. For the Meena character, who is a dancer in the movie, the hint seems to be towards Vyjayantimala who was a dancer and initially was a Dilip Kumar heroine before she appeared with Raj Kapoor.Running times
Many running times are known to exist. The IMDb cites 244 minutes, while according to the Chicago Reader, the original running time was 5 hours #redirect [[Template:Fact]]. Many prints run just over 3 hours. The film is on DVD from YashRaj films, and that version runs 3 hours, 44 minutes.Cast
- Raj Kapoor - Raju (Joker)
- Manoj Kumar - David
- Simi Garewal - Mary
- Rishi Kapoor - Young Raju
- Rajendra Kumar- Mary's fiance and then husband
- Dharmendra- Circus owner
- Padmini- Master Raju and miss Meena
External links
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