| Joker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Shirish Kunder |
| Written by | Shirish Kunder |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Sudeep Chatterjee |
| Edited by | Shirish Kunder |
| Music by |
|
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | UTV Motion Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 103 minutes[2] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹47 crore |
| Box office | est. ₹35.87 crore[3][4] |
Joker is a 2012 IndianHindi-languagescience fiction comedy film written and directed byShirish Kunder in his second directorial venture afterJaan-E-Mann.[5] The film starsAkshay Kumar andSonakshi Sinha. The film released worldwide on 31 August 2012, and received negative reviews upon release. The film was declared a "Disaster" at box office.[1][6][7]
Agastya "Sattu" is a scientist, working on the development of a communication system to communicate withaliens. But Agastya loses the faith of his seniors and is allotted a deadline of one month to conclude his project with some substantial results.
In the meantime, Agastya is informed by his girlfriend Diva about his father's illness. On hearing this, they both reach his native village, Paglapur, whose colourful inhabitants include his brother, who speaks gibberish, a kid who thinks he is a lamppost, and everyone else who think thatWorld War II is still going on and fears the Germans.
Soon after reaching there, Agastya finds that he was called on a false pretext of illness by his father. They called Agastya, so he could make the village a better place and connect it with the outer world.
Upon learning the truth, Agastya decides to move back to the US; however, after hearing the plight of the inhabitants of Paglapur, who are ignored by the government because the village is absent from the demarcated map of India, he decides to come up with a solution for the problem.
As the story proceeds, Agastya comes up with a quaint idea pertaining to thecrop circle and the arrival of aliens in his village to garner recognition for his otherwise isolated village undergoing a plight of neglect ever since independence.
With frames moving ahead, Agastya along with other villagers creates a crop circle in Paglapur and spreads rumors about the arrival of aliens in the village. And from there, amid tremendous media hype, takes over some hilarious sequences knitted aroundUFOs and fictitious man-made aliens.
In the end, the whole joke about the fake aliens is found out, and at the end of the movie, real aliens come and give the village the gift of oil.
Shirish Kunder had the project in development for several years before finding financial backing and hit films, and had to negotiate for use of the specific title which Kunder stated is important to the script itself.[10] The film is being produced byFarah Khan, Shirish Kunder, and Akshay Kumar under the banner of Three's Company andHari Om Entertainment.[11] The film was shot in 3D using 3D cameras, however in June 2012, it was announced that the film was no longer in 3D any more, sinceRa.One andDon 2 have taken the goals, ifJoker flopped it would be a loss on the whole crew, therefore the film will only be released in 2D format.[5] According to director, Shirish Kunder, "It is an underdog story about how individuals make it big in life and in the process, get help from aliens from a fictional planet".[12]Shreyas Talpade will play Akshay's brother in the film.[13] Female lead opposite to Shreyas will be played byMinisha Lamba,[14] who will enact the role of an innocent TV reporter.[15] Sonakshi will also perform anitem number in the film.[11] American actorAlexx ONell was also signed to play a role in the film.[8]
The first schedule of shooting was initially slated to take place inLudhiana, however the location was changed toChandigarh.[16] The shooting began on 14 February 2011 in Chandigarh.[17][18][19] The crew finished the 19-day schedule on 12 March 2011, finishing 40% of the production work.[20] The second schedule started on 17 May 2011 inMumbai[17] and concluded in June 2011.[21]
Shrish Kunder wanted to castAsin Thottumkal as the female lead but, she was not able to adjust the dates for the film so, producers castSonakshi Sinha oppositeAkshay Kumar.Shreyas Talpade andMinissha Lamba were later cast in pivotal roles.[citation needed]
| Joker | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 27 July 2012 (2012-07-27) | |||
| Recorded | 2011 | |||
| Genre | Film soundtrack | |||
| Language | Hindi | |||
| Label | Sony Music India | |||
| Producer | G. V. Prakash Kumar | |||
| G. V. Prakash Kumar chronology | ||||
| ||||
All songs featured in the film except one, are composed byG. V. Prakash Kumar, in his Hindi film composing debut. The songJugnu Banke Tu sung byUdit Narayan was highly appreciated among all songs.[22]
All lyrics are written by Shirish Kunder.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kafirana" (Composed by Gaurav Dagaonkar) | Sunidhi Chauhan,Adarsh Shinde | 5:00 |
| 2. | "Jugnu" | Udit Narayan,Kavita Krishnamurthy | 4:10 |
| 3. | "Sing Raja" | Silk Route | 3:50 |
| 4. | "Yeh Joker" | Sonu Nigam | 4:40 |
| 5. | "Tears of Joker" | Instrumental | 3:20 |
| 6. | "Alien Arrival" | Instrumental | 2:48 |
Music Aloud said: "He may or may not have composed the tunes for the controversy-ridden soundtrack of Jaanemann, but when GV Prakash Kumar actually got to do a credited debut in Bollywood, it turned out to be a rather uninventive one" and rated it 5/10.[23]Score Magazine, gave it 2 out of 5 stars stating, "You know something is wrong with an album when the instrumental tracks immensely outshine the vocal tracks. I must mention that each of the songs has a strong underlying melody but gross injustice is done to them by Shirish Kunder's lyrics."[24]
Joker received negative reviews from critics. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,0% of 6 critics' reviews are positive.[25]. Soumyadipta Banerjee of In.com gave 0.5 out of 5 stars and said "Not only that the aliens are weird, the whole movie seems be in some weird planet after a point of time".[26] Saibal Chatterjee ofNDTVMovies.com gave the film 1 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Joker is a crude joke of a film that will leave you in tears unless you have a stomach strong enough to digest such unmitigated junk."[27] Film criticTaran Adarsh also gave it 1 out of 5 stars and labelled it as a complete "disaster" and a "joke of a film".[28]
| Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Kela Awards | Worst Actress | Sonakshi Sinha | Won | Also forRowdy Rathore,Dabangg 2 andSon of Sardaar |
| Golden Kela Awards | Worst Film | Shirish Kunder | Won |
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