Joker (2012)

In 1947 when the maps of India and Pakistan were being drawn, an oversight ensured that the village of Paglapur didn't find a place in either country. The village had the distinction of ... See full summary »

Director:

Shirish Kunder

Writers:

Shirish Kunder (dialogue), Shirish Kunder (screenplay)

Stars:

Asrani, Subodh Desai, Gurpreet Ghuggi

4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Asrani
Subodh Desai	...	Cameraman
Gurpreet Ghuggi	...	Cameraman (as Gurpreet Guggi)
Avtar Gill
Greg Heffernan	...	CEO Mr. Smith of SpaceLabs
Vrajesh Hirjee
Javed Jaffrey
Darshan Jariwala
Mansi Jhingran	...	News Anchor
Bikramjeet Kanwarpal
Farah Khan
Akshay Kumar	...	Rajkumar / Agastya
Minissha Lamba
Sanjay Mishra
Suzanna Mukherjee	...	Female Reporter 1

Storyline

In 1947 when the maps of India and Pakistan were being drawn, an oversight ensured that the village of Paglapur didn't find a place in either country. The village had the distinction of housing the largest mental asylum in the region and in the mêlée that ensued during partition, the asylum inmates broke loose, drove away the villagers and established their own republic in Paglapur. And that's how it stayed for the next 60 years! While the world outside changed, Paglapur remained isolated, with no electricity, television or sanity. Now, decades after the world forgot this village, a NASA scientist of Indian origin, Agastya and his beautiful wife find themselves on the road to Paglapur. Agastya is working on a top secret project for creating a device to communicate with aliens. So why is he in a village whose colorful inhabitants include a man who speaks in gibberish, another who thinks he is a lamp post and everyone else who think Mahatma Gandhi is still around, fighting for ...

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Plot Keywords:

village | mental asylum | villager | scientist | alien | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes BEING ALIEN is the only option!

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

31 August 2012 (India)

Also Known As:

Джокер

Filming Locations:

Chandigarh, Punjab, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$105,865 (USA) (31 August 2012)

Gross:

$127,954 (USA) (31 August 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hari Om Entertainment Company, Three's Company Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song "Kafirana" originally included the lyrics "I wanna fakht you." Indian censors objected, saying it sounded too much like the English profanity, so the lyric was changed to "I want just you."

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Goofs

Since Agatsya works in the US but was born in India, it can be assumed that he has (or had) an Indian passport. That means Paglapur exists in some government records. At some point, Agatsya must have been required to submit proof of his birth/residence.

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Soundtracks

Yeh Joker
by Sonu Nigam and Shweta Pandit

User Reviews

This JOKER doesn't make you laugh!

If 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!