Mera Naam Joker [DVD] [1970]

If you don't choke back a single tear in this melodrama then Raj Kapoor has failed. You see, this film seems to have been written for its perpetual ability to dissolve you into a tearful mess only to sustain you until another bought of crying. However at the end of which you feel throughly de-toxed. Enjoy!

i watched this on tv not so long ago an it left me desperate to find it again. an im over the moon i did! its such a beautiful story with wonderful songs which leave you with a lump in your throat.

A SURREAL AUTO BIOGRAPHY FOR A PROCLAIMED SHOWMAN -RAJKAPOOR'S most postumuously definitive role and movie penned by the genius of K.A .Abbas is a metaphor for the aphorism that 'life is a stage and humanity are merely performers'and it endures that adage in the most enchanting literary and audi-visual grandeur .

The vision and philosophy behind this work is both romantic and intellectual and surreally spendid as it is set in a real life circus to enhance it's thematic treatise .

the story of an itinerant buffoon who lives to entertain others is almost reminescent of the man himself somewhere in the domain where reality and the make belief worlds blur into a grey line and that is 'raju'played by Raj Kapoor from adolescence to old age .

The epic divides itself into 3 chapters in time tracing the life story of the passionately driven visionary man who builds a 'circus show 'with himself at the centrepiece as an omnipresent joker who is the very soul of the entertainment and delivers the most profoundly philosophical dialogues in the charade of a joker as he mocks social travesty .

Raju's ' three failed romantic interludes' are described in detail ,where he loses the lovers to other but his failure in love seems to signify that his achievement in his art has given him more contentment then any marital bliss can bequeath to a human being within this rather deceptive world with superficial transitory love on offer .

The three women are all as different as can be and they all love him in a different capacity but he loves and dedicates his life for his passion to entertain the humanity alone .
While the great set pieces are spectacular and the 9 songs are all master classics ,it is the earlier part of the movie where he is shown as an adolescent[Rishi Kapoor] coming to terms with love or infatuation for his school teacher played by Simi Grewal which is a real gem and is even better then the works of 'FELLINI AND CRYSTALOWSKI' on this subject matter .

The circus itself is a metaphor for human existence itself as it works dually as a philosophical treatise and an entertainment vehicle .

This is Raj Kapoor at his imperative best in a definitive masterpiece and while the huge cast is all commendable it is the debut of his son Rishi Kapoor playing a younger version of his real dad that steals the show .

The movie was a commercial disaster but is considered as mr.Kapoor;s most vitally important work and is a landmark achievement which is both thought provoking and visually stunning with a musical soundtrack that is as fresh and evergreen as the cinema it adorns very relevantly .

An epic to cherish with emotion and intellect in harmony .