Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker celebrates toxic work culture to the point that it’s painful to watch

For the unversed, Mera Naam Joker is the story of Raju. We see him through three phases in his life and how the woman he loves in each phase ends up shaping him, while he tries to be the ‘joker’ who can make the world laugh, even when he is going through a tragedy. The first phase has a young Rishi Kapoor playing Raju. When he first learns the concept of a ‘joker’ he instantly identifies with it. A wise man tells him that being a joker is like being God and Raju is completely sold on the idea. He develops a teenage crush on his teacher, played by Simi Garewal, but the film doesn’t treat it as something that’s quite normal for kids his age, rather it underlines Raju’s sexual awakening in a sadistic way.

Mera Naam Joker does not normalise Raju’s teenage crush, but in fact, it shames him for it. (Photo: Express Archives)

The second chapter has him working as an actual joker in a circus and this is where he meets a Russian woman he falls in love with. He also polishes his act as a joker and is made to go through that rather torturous (for him) performance when his mother passes away. Watching that scene made this place seem like an extremely toxic work space where someone can’t even get a minute to grieve. But the film does not focus on that, in fact, it applauds Raju and his boss because Raju is placing his ‘duty’ above his emotions in what is possibly the most painful moment of his life. The film’s theme of ‘Jeena yahan marna yahan’ feels brutal here. The idea of placing work over one’s self has been celebrated in our culture and Mera Naam Joker pushes it quite far, and pats itself on the back for the same.

The last chapter has him working with a street performer, Meena, who he eventually falls in love with. Meena wants to work hard and get ahead in life but somehow, Raju does not approve of the idea of leaving the simple things behind while chasing success. Through these three phases, Raju keeps reiterating that all he wants is to make people happy, no matter what he is going through. The film is consistently lauding his sacrificial nature as if it’s saying that living for your own self amounts to nothing if you are not serving those around you. After his mother’s passing, Raju has no ambitions for himself. We are told that he is a man with a heart of gold, and he might as well be, but he believes he exists in this world to entertain people so when he starts working with Meena, Raju starts questioning his existence. Living in someone else’s shadow is not meant for him and thus when he is asked to walk away, he is ready to let go.

It’s tragic to watch someone in a workplace where they aren’t even given a minute to grieve their mother’s death. (Photo: Express Archives)

At the time, Raj Kapoor pulled off one of the biggest casting coups when managed to bring many stars of the time in a single film. Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar, Dara Singh, all played significant parts here but even their star appeal, combined with Raj Kapoor’s huge fan base could not help the film. His daughter Rima shared in a 2018 interview with Filmfare, “Papa was bad with money. He’d say, ‘Either I create or become an accountant.’ That’s why he never imagined that his extravaganza Mera Naam Joker (1970) would be such a debacle. It was his heart and soul. A lot was mortgaged, including his respect. He was devastated. After Joker, people dropped him. Distributors and financiers abandoned him. People said, ‘Raj Kapoor satthiya gaya hai. (Raj Kapoor has gone crazy). He’s finished’.”

In an interview with BBC, Raj Kapoor had once said that Mera Naam Joker was very dear to him, and more so because it wasn’t a success. He said there was something about it that it did not work, or perhaps it was extraordinary and that was the reason for its failure. In the years since its release, Mera Naam Joker has been declared by many as a film that was ‘ahead of its time’, or something that was too niche for a massy audience. Upon watching it over five decades after its release, it is obvious that the film was too busy philosophising its theme, rather than conveying it to the audience. In many places, the film touches upon many existential issues, but it undercuts it all with silly comic sequences that feel jarring.

Mera Naam Joker’s core thought of being sacrificial might have come from a place of magnanimity, but watching it now makes you think that not prioritising self-care is probably the most unhealthy trait that we have inherited from our predecessors.