I can't understand how did it get 2 stars im rooting for none if there was an option
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vinaysolanki200714 September 2018
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DICK STEEL31 August 2012The producers, himself included, would love for you to believe otherwise. The signs are there reflecting a troubled production, with the making of the film stretching as far back as 2011, and deciding to abandon its plan of post-converting this to 3D, after the none too stellar outcomes of both RA.One and Don 2. But what's more criminal here, is how Shirish Kunder, in his second film outing as director, failed to capitalize on the fun premise that could have made it a more memorable film, rather than to now market this as for the kids market segment, hoping that the younger demographics would be more forgiving in what it had tried to achieve. Having started on a journey, but making no headway, then pinning it on a misunderstanding from the start, doesn't provide any confidence.
This marks the second time that Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha are paired together in leading roles in as many times, immediately after Rowdy Rathore. While the latter film was a lot of Masala fun, their outing here proved to be somewhat lacklustre. Akshay plays Agastya, a Non Resident Indian living with his stay at home girlfriend in the USA, working on a technology single-handedly that can communicate with the truth out there, but finds himself making no progress. I mean, it's an expensive project, and the dweeb of a trillion dollar company decided to put all its eggs in one basket, and one employee. Sure, he may be a genius, but even geniuses need help. So he's given one month notice to show results, or be shut down.
Some moping later, Sonakshi's Diva picks up a random call from someone from India telling her that Agastya's father is breathing his last breath. It's only 10 minutes into the story, but already the convenience with how things progressed, is showing signs of narrative trouble. Agastya had told Diva he's an orphan, and now some random call from a stranger comes in, claiming to be Agastya's brother (whom we find out only talks gibberish), citing some medical emergency back home, sees her packing up for the both of them, ready for the next flight out to India. Right. I guess Diva's only demonstrating that she's a real Joker alright, only that she's really serious about Agastya making that trip despite his work deadline, to attend to what could have, in any day, been a prank call.
But this is a film, so they do make their way to his village, in fairly comical fashion, and we see that things are still backward. The prologue had shown that lunatics have taken over the village just before Partition, and the maps having drawn such that this village was dropped out from paper existence, but it's still there, and amongst the madness comes Agastya's genius, who had decided to move out and overseas to make a name for himself. He returns, is moved by everyone's sincerity in seeing him back, and some Tarzan swinging antics later, is convinced to stay put, and make his village visible to the outside world again. The plan? To kill multiple birds with one stone, by crying wolf - that aliens have come, his device works, and having the world's attention focused on the village.
It all goes down from there however, as the ludicrous is piled upon by more ludicrous, and the jokes are just plain unfunny. Perhaps the item number Kafirana is just abut the best thing in the film with its energy, and provided for more livelier moments in the movie, but otherwise everything, moving like the expected clockwork of trouble finding its way to Agastya's plan like a spanner in the works, spelt boredom. It was fun to have the loonies dress up as would be aliens using very common household items and crops, but those cute moments dragged out for far too long. And as mentioned earlier that Agastya's brother speaks rubbish, well, actor Shreyas Talpade who plays him, speaks gibberish all through the film, that sounds rather familiar, like the chants heard over UTV's logo introduction, repeated ad nauseam.
Sure it's a kids movie, and one can point out that it shouldn't be taken too seriously, but I reckon kids should probably enrich their time by watching another alien film with more entertainment value, that of Steven Spielberg's ET. That's not to say there aren't some positives from the film though, but they belonged to the more technical aspects. The production sets here are incredibly beautiful and wonderfully designed, which is a pity given that it's adorning a story that finds itself losing steam from the get go, and not exploiting its art direction fully. The CG work used to recreate the aliens and their wares is adequate, not fantastic, but would still barely work to engage children who couldn't care more about the design, but only the presence of something out of this world.
There was bewilderment when the title of the film was announced, until Sonakshi Sinha tweeted that the Joker is found in a deck of cards not belonging to any suite. I guess that's true, that this film, in its current incarnation, doesn't find itself belonging anywhere nor fitting in, trying to be a lot that it isn't, and falling flat. The joke's clearly on us all, the audience, and you'd do yourself a favour by not falling for this joker. I hate to say this, but this goes into the shortlist as the duds the year has experienced so far. It's a real pity that Akshay Kumar had this to show for as his centurion body of work. -
abhijeetasawat5 October 2019Where is Zero star? 1 star is too much for this .
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shikhar-warrior291 September 2012Remember 'Tees Mar Khan' ? where we got our balls crushed by the amount of dumbness it had , well this one's no less. I thought if a person can make a good movie like 'Jaan-E-Man' he knows how to make cinema . But alas i was wrong. Shrish Kunder proves that he can over-do himself. Though this one's not as boring as Tees Maar Khan But its senseless and has NO HUMOR (read : NONE) i don't remember smiling more than 2wice. Laughing is another story. I wonder why Akshay Kumar does movies like this. I am insured that he now does movies for money only. Sonakshi Sinha on the other hand has no role at all. She has like 30 Min's of the screen space, and she is disappointing. Shreyas Talpade with the 'Kalaa Guss Ghuss' is damn irritating and so are the other villagers. Except for the Hotness of Chitrangada Singh in the item song 'Kaafiraana - I want just you' there is nothing in the film that will entertain. Give it a skip. Doesn't even deserve a DVD watch.
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nisakki930 September 2012Joker is a pathetic movie! Yeah believe me guys,I'm saying it myself!!
Wondering 'WHY' Akshay Kumar is doing these type of movies?? You are a lotus in a dirt pond, Akki!
Sonakshi Sinha, Shreyas Talpade, Minissha Lamba I mean rest of all are wasted!
Thank god Akshay Kumar backed out from the promotion of Joker as he was cheated by the director Shirish Kunder.
I just hate Shirish Kunder after watching Joker. How can a man just make this type of a ridiculous movie! It was because of his wife that he got two biggest stars of Bollywood in his two films, but he doesn't deserve biggies anymore!!
I'll rate it 3/10, no need to tell but if you're still thinking to watch then go ahead Joker is your flick! :P -
chandank1331 August 2012If you really want to laugh without any laughing moment, JOKER is just for you! I am damn sure, you will do anything, but laugh! Producer Farah Khan while promoting the film, confidently said that 'Joker' would make for a great family viewing at the theaters as elders wouldn't have to worry about raunchy kisses and scintillating skin show popping every now and then in front of the kids. It is fine for the director to think of making a 'clean' movie, but at least there has to be a story to make people sit in the theater. And I doubt that the kids of today, after being fed with Hollywood flicks like 'Ice Age' and 'Spy Kids' would buy this Kunder's fantasy. The story is very run-of the-mill. Akshay (Augustya), a NASA scientist returns to India to improve the condition of his village named 'Paglapur', apparently which has lost its identity from the face of the earth. Now since the administrators have no clue as to under whose jurisdiction Paglapur exist, Augustya's village is devoid of any basic amenities like bijli and paani leading to the inhabitants going eccentric who incidentally happen to be former fugitives of a mental asylum. To improve the situation, Augustya with the help of the villagers hatches an absurd plan to attract media and the administration's attention, but somehow the scheme doesn't work out eventually leading to utter chaos.
Finally, the 'unimaginable' (which was very predictable) happens and Paglapur gets the due it long deserved.
In the acting department, besides Akshay, Shreyas Talpade manages to tickle the funny bone with his gibberish talk. Sonakshi, as usual is just there for the ornamental purpose, but what is really unfortunate is the editing of the film which I expected to be top class considering that it is coming from Shirish Kunder, the master editor himself.
My ratings 1/5 and must say not to spend money on this. Wait for the DVD which will come sooner than expected! -
imdb-ikysmoviedatabase28 December 2020This movie was so bad that the lead actor akshay Kumar decided not to promote it at all. The makers of this movie dont know anything about scripting. They just like torturing people with there annoying dream joke of Projects. This film maybe be titled joker aimed at all the people who payed to watch this trash I'm glad it was a massive disaster at the box office as deserved.
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Joker was a big joke by Shirish Kunder who thought of fooling the audience with his stupidity but made a fool of himself
In order to put back a village called Paglapur back on the map of India , Agastya creates a pretentious story of alien landing in his village creating an awareness to the politician and media.
Shirish Kunder ( Janemaan) had tweeted once about Sharukh Khan's RA.ONE -" 150cr firework fizzled out" . His tweet backfired at himself and result is such a terrible movie like "JOKER" . It was clearly evident why Akshaye Kumar chose to stay away from the promotion of this senseless movie. Direction is so lame that even a 4 year old kid can make a better film... Its high time that Kunder should go back to his editing days...there is nothing called screenplay in the film .. Art direction is decent re-creating the village though sometimes it looked funny. Cinematography is OK. Performances wise it is Shreyas Talpade who irritates you from the beginning till the end with his alien vocabulary. His character is shown as the person who can speak but still he is able to understand Alien's language in the climax... Gosh ..can it be worse than this ... It is Akshaye Kumar who is the only hope in the film .. but he should consider a script before signing any film. Sonakshi Sinha is wasted along with Darshan jariwala and Asrani.
Overall , senseless ..nonsense .. stupid .. illogical movie in every sense ... Never recommended 0.5 /5 -
bobbysing9 September 2012Its indeed great and also an appreciable act to go for something different and fresh in the present routine structure of our Hindi Films. But on the other hand, it's equally or even more important to ensure that the plot which looks like a winner on the paper, also gets transformed and executed on the screen in the best possible manner, providing a good return to the viewer for both his money and time spent.
Unfortunately, Shirish Kunder's JOKER fulfils the first requirement reasonably but makes a complete mess in its second, involving the execution, presentation and overall impact of the movie which was rightly predicted by majority of people after watching its uninteresting & patchy promos. In fact JOKER is one of those big movies which clearly reveal their weak points in the first few reels itself and then you exactly know that its not going to work in its subsequent reels too.
The film starts from abroad in the SWADES mode, wherein Akshay is forced to make a decision to visit India along with his live-in girlfriend Sonakshi. Now the moment they enter the zone of Pagalpur, you get served with some hard humor which starts falling flat with its each new gag delivered boringly. There are people falling from the trees, a man who thinks he is a lamp (reminding you of a teeth whitener advert), a teacher with a pretty bad English who believes that the IInd World War is still going on, a person who speaks gibberish (like Tushar in the GOLMAAl series) which eventually becomes the language of real aliens too and 3 clown like politicians who daringly ask for their cut sitting in their government offices only.
In straight words, after just 30 minutes into the film and an item song served in that duration only, one starts thinking about all the resources, efforts and hard work gone into its making just for nothing. Further it is also quite shocking to see that the film which had its whole promotion planned around the so called Aliens, does not have even a single scene or mention of them before the intermission and they actually reveal themselves in its second hour. Frankly that tells you a lot about the illogical and errant planning behind the making of this serious mistake aptly called JOKER.
Post intermission, the disaster continues in a much bigger magnitude when the fake aliens are made with some vegetables, fruits and LEDs considering that there are fools sitting in the theater ready to accept anything. The whole screenplay post interval is simply pathetic making a mockery of almost everything around ranging from news channels, their reporters, government and military forces to the foreign officials investigating the aliens and the crop circles inspired from Manoj Shyamalan's SIGNS (2002). Moreover various scenes in the movie make you recall so many films together like SWADES, KOI MIL GAYA, LAGAAN, PEEPLI LIVE and even Spielberg's ET. Plus, the whole setting around some innocent (yet eccentric) villagers also reminds you of Akshay Kumar's earlier flop, TEES MAAR KHAN directed by Shirin's better half Farah Khan.
In the performance department only one person is able to make you laugh at times and he is Shreyas Talpade as Babban. But otherwise JOKER has its entire cast (with many known names in stupid minuscule roles), performing half-heartedly including the lead couple Akshay & Sonakshi, as if they all perfectly knew that its not going to work in any case. And probably that was the reason Akshay was literally absent from its entire promotional campaign before its release.
Musically it gives you nothing to write about as the soundtrack neither has any melody nor any good lyrics to win over the audience. Personally I even didn't like the heavily promoted item song 'Kafirana' since it didn't fit on Chitrangda's persona at all. The songs honestly work as several loo-breaks which had to be included in the film because without them, it would be a 100 minutes venture only in totality. Background score fails to register in all those weird comic sequences and Cinematography remains helpless with such lackluster characters emoting on the screen. Also it was a pity to see that in such a big banner film, talking about aliens (the real ones too), the Computer Graphics were really below the mark like a low budget venture in its last sequence which even had the alien dancing along with Shreyas. Now did the makers really expect the viewers to laugh out loud on that silly alien dance without any sense?
Anyway, in all JOKER can easily be termed as a poor or bizarre film made on an interestingly fresh plot which had enough space for a good comedy and many innovative enjoyable sequences in its storyline. The film majorly is a disappointment due to its mediocre and awful treatment (including the script, execution or direction) which takes the plot too lightly in an over-confident manner and fails to deliver in the end. As a matter of fact, JOKER can be perfectly used to prove these Cinematic Truths that 'The Director is always the real captain of the ship undeniably' and 'What seems to be good on the paper might not be equally good or entertaining on the screen'. -
boppurisam1 September 2012The most pathetic movie that I ever saw in my life.i really mean what I say because it was such a nightmare for me to watch this film. The title joker truly suggest that film itself is a joke. I don't really understand why Akki prefers such a juvenile concepts. The storyline was awful and there was no scope for any performance and the graphics were the biggest joke in the movie. I suggest the director to stick what he does better (editing) not to direct a film with such a lame concept. I have no words to express my grief after watching the film and overall the movie is a big zilch. If possible I would have definitely rated this movie negative but unfortunately I can't. Save your time and money.
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sreekanth-venkataraman3 September 2012Don't be fooled by the poor rating and poor reviews this movie has got. This movie deserves far better. It is one of those rare Bollywood movies where a lot of thought has gone behind the 'title'. 'Joker' is not about any central character in the movie. Rather, it is about an important underlying issue in the context of the country.
The theme is – It has been more than 70 years since independence and yet nothing seems to have changed for the villages and villagers in the countries. No political party is willing to do anything for them. They are the forgotten lot in today's India by both the media and the politicians. That it could take something as outrageous as aliens landing in one of the villages for anyone to take a serious note of them or their plight is the central message of the movie. It is a very well-crafted story with all the actors playing their part efficiently. In short, this movie tries to convey an important message in a light hearted manner. So, don't go expecting a slapstick comedy because this is not a slapstick comedy but this movie provides for some funny moments. And all the songs in this movie are definitely worth lending your eyes to with 'Jugnu' being the pick of the lot.
In short – if you go expecting a slap stick comedy and fail to appreciate the underlying theme of the movie, you will give this movie a very low rating. Otherwise, you will definitely appreciate this movie as one of the better ones in recent times. You can do much worse than watching this movie!! -
pawanpunjabithewriter28 April 2021Try not to set any expectations at first place. Only mkae up your mind for a light very light time pass movie. It will take gibberish, play something you'd think what nonsense at a few occasions, but it has emotions. It has those laughs which you'd feel only if you stay connected, believe in it and keep your expectations for a serious movie aside. This is not something that will help you build a stronger personality or help you in your career, but this would surely make you feel light hearted leaving the tension aside for sometime. Nor is it very good comedy, however, it's fun for time pass and shouldn't be considered as more than once watch. The emotions, comedy, the fun, everything delivered in this movie was by Akshay Kumar with his simplicity. Other roles were nonsensical, the movie name would suggest. Thank you.
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rushatiu6 September 2012Joker, the name itself is a joke. When I had first seen the trailers and heard about the movie, I knew that it would not be worth it. Still after 'Rowdy Rathore', expectations were semi-high from its Jodi of Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha. Moreover, I had faith in its director Shirish Kunder after he delivered good movie like 'Jaan-E-Mann'. But alas his Joker is not even an inch closer to this expectation. This famous editor has proved that he can over-do himself as a director. Nightmare! The story-line is very lame.Here Akshay Kumar plays Agastya (please don't think of Jaan-E-Mann) a dedicated NASA scientist and Sonakshi Sinha plays Manali, his good-looking, understanding life-partner. Agastya returns to India and visits his homeland 'Paglapur' with Manali after hearing his dad breathing his last breath. He is utterly shocked by the downtrodden condition of Paglapur and then finds out that his dad's illness was just a fluke to get him back home and do something worthwhile to give a new lease of life to the ever neglected mad place. Apparently, the village has lost its identity ever since a Britisher forgot to place Paglapur on the Indian map. So, the administrators are also clueless as to under whose jurisdiction Paglapur exists. This situation has made the place remain devoid of the basic amenities like electricity, water which is why the inhabitants are going eccentric. In the meantime, Agastya emerges as the savior to improve Paglapur by re-gaining its electricity and water supply. He chalks out an absurd plan to grab attention of media followed by the administrators, and eventually the scientists from USA. However, here I find it interesting that how Akki decorates this scheme by dressing up few villagers with finely-cut vegetables to make them pose as 'aliens' in front of the whole bunch of reporters, all just to garner curiosity and make Paglapur the prime place in news. Eventually chaos occurs but of course the unexpected happens and Paglapur gets the due it long deserved. It's to be mentioned that alien's dancing in Bollywood style in the end of the movie left everybody in awe with a smile on their face (at least). Otherwise throughout the movie I kept looking for a single moment where I could go on smiling, if not laughing. Akshay Kumar's acting failed to impress because of Kunder's blunder direction. Sonakshi Sinha hardly has any role (ornamental purpose). Shreyas Talpade only kept on gibbering 'Kalaa Kalaa Guss Guss' which becomes irritating as the movie proceeds and so are the other villagers. The only 'feel-good' and energetic factor in the movie is when the dusky beauty Chitrangada Singh oozes out the hotness in the item number titled Kafirana.
After a thorough analysis all I wonder if Kunder deserves another slap. A box office oriented slap (remember SRK slapping him at Sanjay Dutt's party early this year)? Well, let the viewers decide. -
yogeshnautiyal-8118915 November 2020Time waste and bad acting by all the actors ,no story screenplay,comic just terrible
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iqmicdmb27 December 20201 star for that irritating Ghoos Ghoos. What is this irritating movie and acting.
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abqk18 July 2016The worst movie I have ever seen in my life.Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi's couple PFFTTT!Worst couple ever of Bollywood.I hate the fictitious plot of this film.I mean just look,the story is that Agastiya(Akshay Kumar)and Dive depart from USA all the way to Agastiya's village Paglapur as a person in his village said that Agastiya's father is sick and is a guest for some days.Then the secret is revealed that they wanted to just see the item dance of Chitraganda on the song"Kafira" in Paglapur.They made Agastiya leave and later he came back when Diva was in trouble.Then Agastiya wanted his village to become rich by creating a fake project of aliens.Baban(Shreyas Talpade)was a person speaking gibberish language and they wanted to make fake aliens.Then the movie is under suspense when a white named Simon believes it is fake.Then Agastiya wears the same clothes his family wears.Then they show media fake aliens.Then in the end aliens come and they reward Paglapur with oil and movie ended.Atrocious movie a simple foreplay.
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Well here in this movie we can see that there was a certain base in the story, as shirish kunder decide to move ahead a level after tees maar khan, as the story(or whatever it is) proceeds we saw some guy dressed as a pumpkin and some halo-ween costumes and yes some hoax created about the aliens. yes this movie does not worth to be a movie in any sense, there are lame jokes, bad acting, poor akshay had gotten one chance to save his downfall after rowdy rathore, this will surely give him a downfall and a very big one too. about sonakshi i would say, people want to see something more please do something other than falling in love with the hero. rest i'll give it 1 star.
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anagpal31 August 2012Switch off mind, detach before entering hall. Put remaining senses on 'watching fable' mode. Go with a group of kids, preferably under 10. And there is a chance you may enjoy it.
There is an American, the villain, named 'Simon Goeback'. A discussion about mineral water project which occurs thrice. Shreyas speaks in gibberish throughout, which is funny only the first five minutes. And yes, there is an item number with the chirpy Chitrangdha.
Apart from that, there is little to recommend in the film. The plot, about someone using aliens to get his village attention, is laughable, the acting ordinary, the character development sketchy and unidimensional, the songs barely bearable.
This would've been an interesting synopsis which lost its way as it became a full fledged script. Probably approved more at star level than story. And for that I'm dearly sorry . more at www.apurvbollywood.blogspot.com -
lethalweapon9 October 2012Just watched 'Joker' (2012)
Agastya is a US based scientist working on extra terrestrial communication, who is called back home to fictitious village called 'Paglapur', a region in India that has been comically denied a place on the map. It has been ignored by the neighboring territories and has consequently fallen into hard times - no electricity, water supply, buildings in shambles. As Agastya tries to seek help from the Government, each of the three neighboring states wash their hands off the area.
One of the ministers call Paglapur as the joker of the pack - technically part of the country, but without actually belonging to one group/ place.
Agastya decides that the only way to get people to take Paglapur seriously would be to bring global attention to the town. He devices an elaborate scam involving crop circles and aliens. He uses the villagers to create crop circles and spread rumors about alien visitors. The resulting worldwide interest in Paglapur makes the ministers come clamoring for Paglapur to be included in their territory, which allows the hero to turn back the joker comment by saying that the Joker is the most powerful in the pack, as it can assume the power/ identity of any of the other cards.
When I said that I want to watch this movie, all my friends responded with a resounding chorus of "Eh??". They felt that it was just an immature, poorly hashed up, shallow film, not worth a second look beyond the trailer. But I said no, this can work.
In the real world, crop circles are hoaxes that survive in pop culture because people don't read enough. I can accept movies using crop circles as a central plot premise, cos hey - it's fiction. If I can enjoy a movie about talking fish, I can enjoy a movie about visiting aliens. But this plot had a promise of something better. It was using crop circles as a scam committed by people to gain attention - something that mirrored the real world of crop circles.
So after seeing the movie, I can now call my friends - the naysayers and paltry critics - and look them straight in the eye while sobbing the words "I should have listened to you". It's a stupid, ridiculous plot. Nonsensical and poorly thought out. There are a few laughs, but it's far and wide - not worth suffering the whole movie for the few laughs strewn here and there. I'm disappointed, and this time, it seems like I'm the only one disappointed here. Everyone else expected crap and got crap. I expected a mildly amusing lowbrow comedy and got crap. -
superindrajit19 February 2013I never will and I never have hesitated to watch Akshay Kumar films as I'm a hardcore fan of his. However, I must say that this film was nothing but a pile of junk. Coming from the the same guy who gave Akshay Kumar another dud(which was far better) Jaaneman(2006), I had zero expectations for this film. After watching the film, I am thankful I had zero expectations. It would be a complete letdown if higher hopes were pinned for this movie from me. Not only was the film trash but a huge mess. What could've been an interesting alien film is everything but interesting. Even some of SRK's films like RaOne and Jab Tak Hai Jaan were better compared to this.
The film has a story done to death and the tempo of the film is far from even being average. The movie(like I mentioned) could've been a great alien comedy film but the story has forced comedy and forced songs. Everything looks like it has been badly squeezed in together as a last minute film. Akshay Kumar himself broke ties with this film as he wanted this film to have some things which in my opinion would make this crap a little better. But no, Shirish Kunder(the moron who directed this film) ignored Akshay and even changed the plans of converting this into 3D. This made Akki angry and he didn't promote the film. Akki was not satisfied with the final product of the film and he was angry at Shirish for ignoring him.
Performances are awful and the chemistry of Akshay and Sonakshi is bad here. Akshay Kumar doesn't do a good job here, he does put his energy into his role and doesn't overact. However, he is not at his best, thankfully he doesn't do his loud and stupid comedy like in Tees Maar Khan.Sonakshi Sinha does a bad job, she was much better in Rowdy Rathore. Here she is just used for the songs and her dialog delivery isn't effective. Asrani does horrible comedy, this guy was much better in Bol Bachchan and he fails to evoke laughter. Shreyas Talpade is there to do his thing, nothing great. The rest provide average support, some side actors do a bland job.
Direction by Shirish Kunder is terrible, he is one of the worst directors and scriptwriters in Bollywood. This guy wrote Tees Maar Khan, directed Jaaneman and now directed Joker. Guess what, all were duds at the box office even if TMK recovered some cost(average grosser). This guy knows how to take a good story and mess it up, he has done an awful job creating a flow in the story. Technically, the film is a joke too. The aliens look OK(costumed well), but the culmination where the English guy is like "they are all fakes, the aliens are fakes" and lots of random stuff happening irritates. In short, Shirish Kunder is a bad director, he should stop making films. Thank God he isn't making Salman Khan's Kick(Next year).
On the whole, Joker is one of those Akshay Kumar films that were his streak breakers. Before this he had Rowdy Rathore and Housefull 2 to his credit and now a horrible Joker comes and ruins his streak. At the box office, the film was and will always remain as one thing. That being a box office Disaster. -
Sherazade22 October 2013Welcome to Paglapur (Crazytown)...a town so crazy the British refused to map it when they colonised India.
A town so crazy the sun doesn't set it drowns.
A town so crazy they all bow down to a figure named lord f*ck-land.
A town so crazy the government conveniently left it out of all three major cities it borders.
A town so crazy its insane asylum's ward is the presidential suite.
A town so crazy its inhabitants duck for cover each time a plane flies by.
A town so crazy the descendants of lord f*ck-land chose to remain there.
Enter at your own risk. -
arnab_tumpy9 December 2012With cliché, loud, stupid masala film ruling the marquee sideline classics like Wasseypur, the names of Salman,Akshay,Devgan and their clans are enough to put me off.Almost disinterested,I came across trailer of Joker and the fresh noble look prompted me to watch the film.
Joker is No Classic but not a bad attempt either.Somehow typical Indian audience are open to our heroes doing irrational gravity defying fight scenes but when something is deliberately imaginatively bizarre the same flock starts looking for logic.Thus when our foreign counterpart could think of making "Ghostbusters" in 80s Hindi directors dared to try something different for the fear of failure.As a result we get to see the same loud comedy,sugar-coated uni-dimensional romance or revenge drama in forms of Rathores.ShirishKunder tries to pour in imagination to the otherwise mundane commercial milieu in form of Joker.
Joker is an out-an-out commercial film but still the hero doesn't mouth double meaning one-liners;doesn't fight in the air to take revenge;doesn't engage in forceful morality tale nor does he run around uttering gibberish "Chintachita" with mid-riff exposed heroine.Instead the hero is making a gadget to communicate with the aliens and also helping their village to get Government's attention.Now could anyone imagine existence of a village in our country which is not present in the political map?Reason shown is deliberately outlandish.In Kunder's imaginative frame the village is "Pagalpur" which is bordering three Indian states without falling in any of them.The village had been conquered by few mad men who escaped the mental asylum.Agastaya is a scientist at space lab who is from Paglapur.He is working on a gadget to communicate with the aliens.With a deadline of 1 month he is forced to come back to India due to his father's illness.Circumstances forced him to stay in the village and solve their water problem for which he approaches three governments but neither of them is interested to claim Pagalpur.Thus he created the hoax of false crop signs to grab media's attention to Pagalpur.That's the basic premise.
With most of negative feedbacks I would like to highlight the reason for mine liking it irrespective of many flaws in the narrative.The imaginative script caught me by surprise.India has numerous villages and it is quite possible that there are more like "Pagalpur" being left out while drawing the final political map.An innovative concept webbed around the issue is attempted for first time.There are under lying relevant social issue of the apathy of the state towards the particular village building a dam thus disconnecting the source of water supple.The dire negligence of system is poignantly highlighted when Akshay goes for complaining and three states ministry ignore his plea as claiming a disowned village doesn't fulfill their vested selfish interests.The idea of involving a hoax like crop signs has been done tactfully while making good mockery of UN and even few Nasa scientists who are more keen on self-promotion than inventions.The concept behind naming the film "Joker" is well conceived.Like Joker they are part of the pack but not of any colour without having any use to anyone.Seriously we are indeed Jokers in front of the system that is indifferent to the tax-payers problems.
The film is also a spoof of serious films like Swades,Lagaan,Signs and borrows ingredients from those films and gives them a twisted inane dimension that adds on to the comic factor.The characterizations have been done with precision.
We expect people of Pagalpur to be bizarre.And that's what Kunder gives us!There is ShreyasTalpade who speaks gibberish which the aliens could pick up well.There is Asrani,the village school master whose mind still resides in the 40s second world war turbulent times and whenever a plane flies above he fears that the Germans are attacking them.There is a hunchback Pitobash who can run faster than a leopard.While designing the village and its surrounding Kunder uses his thinking prowess to bring it to reality.The village head house has a twisted structure that gels with the mindset of the film.There is a jungle surrounding the village which has a secret passage through a tree which has been used latter in the film to help the fake aliens to escape."Joker' is probably one of the rare films where we have fake aliens and the meticulous process of transforming a man into an alien has been shown.With usage of vegetables like pumpkin, gourds and with tiny bulbs(which we use in diwali)the men were transformed into unworldly creatures and the whole sequence reflects creative bend of mind.
The things were getting repetitive after a certain moment but quickly Kunder switched his path to something more strangely.The short duration of the film also adds to its benefit.I am surprised when Indian audience can laugh on the stupid loud antics shown in RohitShetty & SajidKhan films why can't they accept deliberate weird stuffs exhibited in Joker.Unlike slapstick scenarios in blockbusters Joker has some genuine imaginative sequences.
SudeepChatterjee's camera & SukantPanigrahi's art direction needs special mention to highlight the minute detailing of the set.Within budget constraint the visual effects were effective(better than contrived Ra.One).Lots of brainstorming had gone behind designing the gadget to communicate with aliens.
Unlike usually loud AkshayKumar,he is restrained as scientist Agastya adding credibility to the character.SonakshiSinha was just about there.Her voluptuous frame looks more like pumpkin in western outfit.Supporting cast filled the gaps.
An applauding,imaginative spoof with stunning visuals.Though I agree that given the basic story in place it would have been done in a far better way still the effort is commendable.ShirishKunder has an eye for bright interesting visuals which he should explore in all his film.Indeed he has the potential to be the "TimBurton" of Hindi cinema provided he is ready to experiment in all his coming film.Hopefully he won't fall in the trap of 100cr marketing gimmick.
P.S:In a passing reference, one character talks about "Shundi' which was kind of homage to Ray's classic GoopyGyneBaghaByne which was placed in imaginative cities named Shundi & hundi -
pulkit-22049 November 2012i just watched the movie yesterday night and was surprised how the movie was not at all as bad as everyone is reviewing it...
its a simple story of how one person tries to get his village noticed and on the map of India so that there problems can be solved... and the best way they come up is to show that there are extra-territorial activities happening in their area... so that everyone takes notice of their small village..
though the start of the movie does look bad, boring and slow.. it picks up the pace after mins or so and you actually start enjoying the movie..
my advice to all would be at least give it a shot and find out for yourself how the movie is actually... -
Shirish Kunder's 'Joker' is an Average effort. A Terrific Idea, that sadly doesn't convert into a Terrific Film.
'Joker' tells the story of a NASA scientist of Indian origin, who returns back to his village & helps the people around him get attention by pulling off silly stints.
'Joker' is strictly an average fare. It doesn't offer anything too good nor is it terrible. Shirish Kunder's Screenplay is so-so, while his Direction is just about passable. Cinematography & Editing are fair. Music by G. V. Prakash Kumar & Gaurav Dagaonkar, is alright.
Performance-Wise: Akshay Kumar delivers sincerely, he never goes over the top & remains true to his character. Sonakshi Sinha gets no scope. Shreyas Talpade speaks gibberish, while Minisha Lamba is hardly there. In the supporting cast, Darshan Jariwala, Pitobash, Asrani & Avatar Gill, are noticeable.
On the whole, 'Joker' needs to be viewed with minimal expectations. -
reviewleon8 September 2012This movie Joker is a very bad attempt by director sirish kunder. As far as the starcast, it seems like it is a huge budget movie but when you see the movie,there is not really a scene where you go wow. All the scenes, costumes etc seems like you have seen it before.Don't higher your expectation because it will go down within a few minutes after the movie starts.
The actors acting is not that impressive as the supporting actors are terrible. The actress is as invisible as their is no script for her. She is there just to dance on some songs. Actually the concept of this movie was not that bad but the script & the director's vision makes it worse. It reminds you of the disaster movie called "Tismaar Khan", which was made by the director's wife Farah khan. For me it is all messed up characters from teesmaarkhan.