I seldom watch Hindi films. I feel there is a disconnect between the glittery Bollywood and real India. I may be wrong in my opinion, but the fact is I’m not completely incorrect.
I always thought Mera Naam Joker film belongs to comedy genre. That’s how the title sound and so the posters, but in turn the film went on to be a romance mixed with some philosophical tit-bits. There are very few films which are based on the circus as the backdrop, to name few- Aboorva Sagodargal (Tamil - 1989) and Parakum Paavai (Tamil-1966).
The running time of this film was over 4 hours. The one which I saw was little less than 3 hours and 30 minutes. In spite of being a lengthiest film, the story was engaging, no wonder Raj Kapoor and Abbas had worked on the script for years.
Mary (Semi Garewal), Marina, Meenu (Padmini)- all three receive letters from Raju (Raj Kapoor), that he is going to perform his last show in the circus, he invites all three to the show. These three women had played a significant role in Raju’ life. The show starts and the flashback rolls to showcase us on how these women played their part in this life.
So the plot is set- a hero to tell his past with three women, who influenced his life. All the major characters are introduced initially- A perfect act 1. As a school going kid, young Raju (Played by Rishi Kapoor) is infatuated towards Mary. This is a cat on the wall for the director- go too far, it becomes awkward or make it too light then the point could not be reached. This is carefully weaved, by not breaking it boundaries. David, the fiancé of Mary, identifies it and talk with Raju to get over this issue. Raju realizes that he want to be a joker. A small joker puppet follows him throughout the rest of the story as a metaphor of love.
Back from the school, now as as a young man Raju joins Gemini circus, where he falls in love with Marina a visiting Russian performer, the love doesn’t last. He then moves out of the circus to meet Meenu. He helps her to realize her dream of becoming a film actress. Again here he had to sacrifice the small romance to a film actor. After these three stories the flashback is back to the final show (initial circus scene). So we are set to see something big to happen, but instead the final act closes as “POSITIVELY NOT” The End.
After all the excellent dialogues, songs and the picturization- I was disappointed, since we still couldn't see a proper end.
