Raj Kapoor's Masterpiece. Review on Mera Naam Joker

I am a deep ardent fan of Raj Kapoor and one of my favourite movies was Mera Naam Joker. Before going into the detail of the movie I would like to discuss some trivia's.

1.The film was released on 8th December 1969.

2.It took 8 long years from its original inception to its release.

3.The film's total duration was approx 4 hours and had three intermissions.

5.The film flopped miserably within a week.

The Film's Plot

The main subject of this movie is a story of a clown (Raj Kapoor) who used to laugh to make other persons laugh. It can be compared with the life of a man who should laugh and make other's laugh. The movie starts with the song 'Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan' and then the story goes into the flashback.

First Part

Rishi Kapoor is a poor school going boy who lives with his mother. His mother dreams that little Raj will become a great boy one day but her son's ambitions are different. He wants to become a joker in circus. His mother's wishes are against him because his father also expired in circus itself. Raj had one teacher (Simi Garewal) to which this boy falls in love. He had a deep infatuation for his lady love. The teacher had a very matured and understandable Fiance (Manoj Kumar) who understands the boy's emotions. Finally the lady love marries to her fiance and little boy becomes alone.

Second Part

Little Boy had now grown up to become Raju (Raj Kapoor) and he along with his mother comes to the city to earn a livlihood. Raj gets a job in circus as a clown and conceals this fact from his mother. There he meet a Russian lady trapeze. As the time passes both fell in love with each other. One day his mother comes to know that Raju is working in a circus. As Raju falls from the trapeze his mother succumbs to heart attack. Finally his lady love also departs from his life and leave for Russia.

Third Part

Raju meets a woman (disguised as man) (Padmini) who earns her livlihood by painting posters. As the time passes he also fells in love with this lady. But just at the nick of time Rajendra Kumar comes in her life creating a vaccum in Raju's Life.

Main Summary of this story

This is the movie depicting a common man who should remain happy in life in all circumstances. It depicts the vividness of the life. One should give everything to other people without expecting from other people. It also depicts the seven stages of life as depicted in William Shakespare's play.

My Best Scene

In the second episode when Raju's mother dies Dharmenendra request him to continue his show by saying ''The Show must goes on''. Poor Raj flies the pigeon and cries artificially. At this time one can fell the real pain in his heart but he has to perform his duty to make other people laugh.

Music. The film's music was excellent given by SJ. Even their composition can be heard during the middle of film.

Awards. The film bagged three major awards in 1971.

1.Best Director-Raj Kapoor

2.Best Playback Singer-Mukesh

3.Best Music Director-Shankar-Jaikishen

Songs Almost all the songs sung by Mukesh and Asha Bhonsale were runaway hits and literally ruled the Binaca SangeetMala of VividhBharati charts in the 70's. Overall the film was very good but unfortunately it flopped and Raj Kapoor lost a major share of money he had invested in the movie.