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Encyclopedia > Mera Naam Joker
Mera Naam Joker

Film poster
Directed by Raj Kapoor
Produced by Raj Kapoor
Written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
Starring Manoj Kumar
Simi Garewal
Music by Jaikishen-Shanker
Cinematography Radhu Karmakar
Editing by Raj Kapoor
Release date(s) 1970
Running time 244 min.
Country India
Language Hindi
IMDb profile

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 Image File history File linksMetadata Mera_Naam_Joker_poster. ... Raj Kapoor (Hindi: राज कपूर, Urdu: راج کپور, Rāj Kapūr, December 14, 1924 - June 2, 1988) was a legendary Indian actor, director, and producer of Bollywood movies (Indian cinema). ... Raj Kapoor (Hindi: राज कपूर, Urdu: راج کپور, Rāj Kapūr, December 14, 1924 - June 2, 1988) was a legendary Indian actor, director, and producer of Bollywood movies (Indian cinema). ... Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (1914 - 1987) was an Indian film director, scenarist and journalist. ... Manoj Kumar (born July 24, 1937) is an Indian actor and director in the Bollywood film industry. ... Simi in Do Badan(1966). ... Raj Kapoor (Hindi: राज कपूर, Urdu: راج کپور, Rāj Kapūr, December 14, 1924 - June 2, 1988) was a legendary Indian actor, director, and producer of Bollywood movies (Indian cinema). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Hindi (हिन्दी or हिंदी in Devanagari; pronunciation: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Hindi (हिन्दी or हिंदी in Devanagari; pronunciation: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and... Raj Kapoor (Hindi: राज कपूर, Urdu: راج کپور, Rāj Kapūr, December 14, 1924 - June 2, 1988) was a legendary Indian actor, director, and producer of Bollywood movies (Indian cinema). ... Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (1914 - 1987) was an Indian film director, scenarist and journalist. ... Rishi Kapoor in Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) Rishi Kapoor (born September 4, 1952 in Mumbai) is an Indian Bollywood actor. ...

Contents

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. Raj Kapoor (Hindi: राज कपूर, Urdu: راج کپور, Rāj Kapūr, December 14, 1924 - June 2, 1988) was a legendary Indian actor, director, and producer of Bollywood movies (Indian cinema). ... Prithviraj Kapoor as Alexander the Great in Sikander. ...


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. Dharmendra (or Dharam Singh Deol) (Punjabi:ਧਰਿਮਨਦਰ (ਧਰਮ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੇਓਲ), Hindi: धर्मॆन्द्र (धर्म सिंह देयोल)), born 8 December 1935 in Sahnewal, Punjab) is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. ...


In the final chapter, Raju meets Meena, a woman who has big dreams and ambitions of becoming a famous actress, but is now a derelict and sometimes manages to earn money as a billboard shift labour. 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, plummeting 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. Raj Kapoor (Hindi: राज कपूर, Urdu: راج کپور, Rāj Kapūr, December 14, 1924 - June 2, 1988) was a legendary Indian actor, director, and producer of Bollywood movies (Indian cinema). ... Bobby, released in 1973, is a popular Bollywood film directed by Raj Kapoor. ... A photo of Nargis from the movie Andaaz. ... Vyjayantimala (born 1936) is an Indian film actress. ... This article is written from a fans point of view, rather than a neutral point of view. ...


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[citation needed]. Many prints run just over 3 hours. The film is on DVD from YashRaj films, and that version runs 3 hours, 44 minutes. The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois. ...


Cast

Raj Kapoor (Hindi: राज कपूर, Urdu: راج کپور, Rāj Kapūr, December 14, 1924 - June 2, 1988) was a legendary Indian actor, director, and producer of Bollywood movies (Indian cinema). ... Manoj Kumar (born July 24, 1937) is an Indian actor and director in the Bollywood film industry. ... Simi in Do Badan(1966). ... Rishi Kapoor in Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) Rishi Kapoor (born September 4, 1952 in Mumbai) is an Indian Bollywood actor. ... Rajendra kumar was the bollywod icon of the 60s and 70s. ... Dharmendra (or Dharam Singh Deol) (Punjabi:ਧਰਿਮਨਦਰ (ਧਰਮ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੇਓਲ), Hindi: धर्मॆन्द्र (धर्म सिंह देयोल)), born 8 December 1935 in Sahnewal, Punjab) is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. ... Padmini a legendary actress and bharathanatyam dancer. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Screen the business of entertainment-Films-Tribute (1122 words)
Mera Naam Joker, a complete biography in three parts, was to be Raj Kapoor’s Limelight.
The joker was a character Kapoor identified with strongly having lived the life of an entertainer from the early days of his boyhood.
The joker was for him not just the eternal image of laughter, but the quintessence of the "little man".
Redhotcurry.com - Bollywood Films. Mera Naam Joker (280 words)
His film Mera Naam Joker (My Name is Clown) is a three-part tale charting the life of Raju, the melancholic clown.
The final drama of Mera Naam Joker has Raju in love with an aspiring actress who rejects him for the sake of her career.
Mera Naam Joker was a mammoth production that took six years to make, nearly bankrupting Raj Kapoor in the process.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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