Mera Naam Joker

Why I saw it?
Just for old time's sakes. Noticed it in the SJ library, so picked it up. I did not remember it much so decided to check it out!

Performances
~~ The genius of Raaj Kapoor is hard to miss on this one. He carries the movie out and out! Rishi Kapoor's debut as little Raaj is also an eventful one! Both father and son have done a great job!

~~ The special appearances by Dharmendra, Rajendar Kumar and Manoj Kumar are really powerful. Lot of character is shown by each one of these men in Raaj's life.

~~ The women are all just about okay and none of them stand out in these important roles. Padmini borders on the irritating. Her character is sort of negative and that adds to the hate factor. The Russian girl is at most cute, but since there is not much of a role, she does not stand out. In her small role, she emoted well. Simi Garewal as teacher is pretty good, but she fades away quickly into the background as soon as Manoj Kumar (as David) comes into the screen.

~~ Shankar Jaikishen Music is a mixed bag, where the songs are great and the picturization is a mess at times. Also it seems as if there are too many songs. Jeena Yahan, Jaane Kahan and Kehta Hai Joker are usual favorites.

Noticeable
~~ The obvious ideas that Autograph or other modern movies get from this one is easy to see. There are so many ideas in this movie and that's what makes it so special!

~~ The chapter 3 of the movie which starts out interestingly, with Meenu Master, Mothi and Raju, drags quite a bit in the end.

~~ The end of the movie makes it even more of a classic, but could also have been the reason why it flopped big time at the box office. But for those who get totally into the emotion cannot have held back their tears at several parts in the movie!

~~ In chapter 3, where the trio of Kumar, Meena and Raju are in the flight carrying the magazines of Fortune, Time and Life was simply awesome direction.

~~ The Joker connection between each story which is asserted by the doll coming back to him time and again is a beautiful piece of art!

Verdict
Awesome movie to some and a dragging tragedy to others. This movie is a true classic for performance! If you are not the kind who would watch a long movie, then you should split this into 3 sittings. The feelings are bound to stay with you if the sittings are not too wide apart! But if you watch this movie, you may not like any present day movie that much! Saturday, October 15, 2005 at 9:02 PM