The promos were dull, Akshay Kumar disowned the film and there was no hype prior to it’s release. But, amidst all the negativity surrounding Joker, I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Director Shirish Kunder’s last film Jaan-e-mann didn’t work at the boxoffice, but the movie had it’s share of fans.

Does Joker work? Read on..

Story: During Independence, when the map of India was re-drawn, a small village called Paglapur didn’t find a place on the map. Inmates of a mental asylum broke loose, formed their own village and aptly named it Paglapur. Fast forward to the current decade and absolutely nothing has changed – the village still has no electricity or water and the villagers are still act like madmen.

Enter Agastya (Akshay Kumar) with his pretty girlfriend Diva (Sonakshi Sinha). He is working on a device to communicate with the aliens!  When Agastya finds out that his father, who lives in Paglapur is seriously ill, he abandons his work and returns. How he transforms the village forms the rest of the tale.

Joker Review

Always felt Joker could either spring a huge surprise or fall flat. Unfortunately, it’s the later. From start to finish, absolutely nothing works for the film. You fail to understand what the director was thinking?!

In an attempt to try something unconventional – director Shirish Kunder seems to be inspired by several classics. Akshay Kumar’s character reminds you of Shahrukh Khan in ‘Swades’, the gibberish speaking Shreyas Talpade tries to pull off a Tusshar Kapoor act from ‘Golmaal’ and the costumes are inspired by ‘Lagaan’.

Joker is devoid of any sense or logic. Agastya manages to fool the best of scientists on the UFO landing in their village, only to have his fool-proof plan busted in 10 seconds by one of his enemies. The armed forces land up to capture/kill the aliens, but why do they stand outside the forest when the aliens are hiding inside?

The actors look disinterested, especially Akshay Kumar who has always delivered spirited performances, even in some of his worst films. Sonakshi Sinha has very little to do. Shreyas Talpade is good. Asrani is okay. Minissha Lamba has a special appearance. The rest of the characters ham endlessly.

At a runtime of 1 hour 45 minutes, Joker is one of the shortest mainstream films to come out of Bollywood. Still, Kunder has managed to squeeze in 4-5 songs – including an item number by Chitrangada Singh!

Overall, it’s a ‘joke’ on the audience courtesy Shirish Kunder. You’d be better off not being the ‘Joker’. Stay away.

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