Mera Naam Joker (1970)

I will not repeat the same thing which is already covered by others. Mera Naam Joker I would say Raj Kapoor's one of the finest work in his career. A series followed after Awara, Sree 420, and Jagte Raho. Infect in true senses he expressed his real tribute to himself, his career. Whatever he learned he put everything into this. The philosophy says "the show must go on" who knows more than an actor. So whether he is happy or sad or crying he should always look happy and never show traces of his personal anguish. Personally Raj Kapoor was inspired by Charley Chaplin's work and we get the glimpse in his early movies. His philosophy behind this movie is true and very natural. Lets discuss different stages one by one. Episode IAdolescent infatuation, his thoughts, his dreams are true and I must say everyone must have faced the same situation with his teacher when in school. His point here only depicts how a young developing mind fantasies. His gesture to present his idol joker to his teacher is a very philosophical thought that only a director like Raj Kapoor can think. He repeats the same with other two women and gets it back all the time. Episode IIThis version depicts the young and passionate love of joker Raju. He tried to show a person in this age group does not think anything other than love, he thinks for romance and fantasies. Here too joker loves, dreams and shows his innocent heart. Raj Kapoor gave his life's best performance as a young joker. Episode IIII would say this part was the only reason for the movie's failure. People at that time were not used to see mature love story. It was the time when they were used to see Shammi Kapoor's kind of love stories with young and sweet actresses. Padmini's appearance in the last episode makes the movie relatively dull as she was not a very talented actress rather a great dancer. She was never successful in her career in Hindi movies. However Raj Kapoor acted very well in as mature joker. His philosophy extends in this one. As he shows every one is a joker in his life. Life is a stage and everyone needs to perform his part and continue with his journey. The symbol joker was returned to him thrice as if his heart was given back. His last duologue touches the most when his says his play will not stop here this is just an interval , which may be for 15 min,15 hours or 15 months so please don't go away . He said whatever he wanted to convey from this movie . He tried to prove that from this movie joker's next phase starts and surely after that he never acted in his movies as a hero. He chose his next episode where joker was directing other jokers for his show. Certainly it is his autobiographical work. At last I must say no one can replace a director like Raj Kapoor.

Raj Kapoor always made movies with passion. This flick was simply one of them. He acted marvelously. The film had won 5 Filmfare Awards including National Award.Acting and Direction:Raj Kapoor's acting is outstanding and direction has no flaws. The young joker played by his youngest son Rishi Kapoor. Rishi Kapoor won National award for his performance. The direction is highly praising. To my mind, no other director in Bollywood could make such long film that entertaining as Raj Kapoor did.Production and Editing:R.K Films spent a lot of money for this film too. Raj Kapoor's editing was also excellent. No dragging scenes at all.Lyrics and Music:Lyrics were fine. Shanker-Jaikishan won the Filmfare Award for best music director. The song "KEHAT HAI JOKER SARA ZAMANA", "TEETAR KE DO AAGE TEETAR", "JEENA YAHAN MARNA YAHAAN", "AAY BHAI ZARA DEKHE CHALO", "JAANE KAHAAN GAAYE WOH DIN". Manna Dey won best playback singer award for AAE BHAI... I loved the music. I think it's still impossible to forget these songs.Cast:Good performances by all the cast including Manoj Kumar, Dharmendra, Dara Singh and Rajendra Kumar.Message:The movie conveys an optimistic message.

This is a great movie for people who appreciate films and great film makers-in the caliber of Raj Kapoor. RK banner, probably the single most banner, that stood for quality in Indian Films, so much so, the posters are selling at a high premium! Raj Kapoor, poured his heart and soul in making of this movie, almost bankrupting this flamboyant film Maker. The story is down to earth, one of the best non-fiction tale in the Indian films. This movie failed at the box-office mainly because of the inordinate length, even for the Indian audience of the 70s'. Acting wise Raj Kapoor, Simi Agarwal, Achala Sachdev stand out. Raj Kapoor had his actresses dress erotic and provocative but never vulgar or crude as in the current decadence seen in movies like "Boom" etc. Albeit, the actresses were invariably on the plump side or at least compared to the emaciated looks of current day actresses!Actress Padmini, who starts of with a non glamorous role for an actress, along with Vijayantimala ("Sangam"), were two of the best classical dancers-which an average Westerner would neither appreciate nor has taste for. There were several moments of directorial brilliance as in any RK banner. Young Raju, exposed to the nude teacher, the filming of song "Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan"(sadly, this was the song that was played in Raj Kapoor's final journey, after he collapsed while receiving "Dada Saheb Phalke" Award-the highest honor-bestowed on a film-maker and died of asthma.) These are the scenes only A, Raj Kapoor could do and that made him one of the most beloved director/actor in the World and till this day brings happiness to the millions with his unique talent. Yes, the movie drags with some redundant song and dance numbers but then again, Raj Kapoor had passion for music and the music of Shankar-Jaikishan ("Sangam", "Shree 420", Barsaat", "Jis Desh Mei Ganga Bahti Hai",) was one of the selling point in his films. The duo and 'his soul' the singer Mukesh, never let him down till the end. There is nothing like a bad movie from Raj Kapoor. 'Mera Naam Joker' is not in the league of "Barsaat " "Awaara" or "Sangam" but it had his unique stamp.

Mera Naam Joker will always leave a lasting impression on me. The story was loosely based on Raj Kapoor's life & is a tale of divided into 3 chapters (as the joker would say the 1st chapter representing childhood, the 2nd youth & the 3rd ultimately old age). The film tells the story of a man searching for love, giving his heart & soul to entertain the world asking only for the world to have a place in its heart for him. His philosophy prevents him from showing the negative human emotions as the joker lives for the audience applause he can only laugh at the hardships in life, never allowed to shed a tear in sadness.A scene that sums this up is when Raju (Joker) loses his mother to a heart attack (when she discovers her son has taken up the profession which killed her husband in a stunt that went horribly wrong). But as they say in showbiz the show must go on. Therefore Raju has no time to mourn for the mother who had supported him all his life. Carrying the guilt that he may have directly caused his mothers death he returns to the stage to his adoring public. However the heartache he feels overwhelms him & in a fit of total despair & loss he cries out 'Maa (mother) Maa'. As the circus clears Raju is the only person left standing alone with empty seats surrounding him. Kapoor effectively pulls off the act of shear desolation shielded by a veil of self-ridicule to really give you an impression of the inner torment that Raju eventually succumbs to.If you are prepared to ignore the flaws in the film such as the over melodramatic parts (which there are plenty of) & prepared to watch the full 4 hours you should find Mera Naam Joker thoroughly consuming & invaluable insight into the life & relationships of an actor few have surpassed in the Indian film industry.