Joker (2012)

Yeh joker aisa pantar
Jo khele baazi khud par
Hum bhi iss gaddi ke patte
Par apna naa koi rung
Haathon mein hum jab kisi ke
Baazi usi ki buland

Panga na le saale danga milega
Danga naa kar saale jung chhideg

            Joker is Shirish Kunder's directorial venture produced by UTV Motion Pictures. Joker features Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha in lead roles. Music of Joker is composed by G.V. Prakash Kumar & Gaurav Dagaonkar, Gaurav composed the item number Kafirana and other tracks are composed by GV. While lyrics are penned by Director of the film Shirish Kunder himself and Dance videos are choreographed by Farah Khan.

         Joker has a very simple storyline. Agastya (Akshay Kumar) has been trying to contact the aliens unsuccessfully. His father’s ill health brings him to Paglapur – a place that no one even knows exists. Agastya, in a bid to help his village, carries out a plan that would bring Paglapur on people’s radar. The promos gave away quite a lot of the story beforehand so I am not going to divulge much further.

        The premise of Joker is so crazy, quirky and unbelievable, that if it had been handled correctly, it would have been an absolute fun to watch. Sadly, Shirish prefers to go the predictable route each time there is an important turn in the movie. Somewhere it seems the director got confused as to how much real or fantasy he wanted in the movie – going the middle way which definitely does not help. If one goes to observe every department – from music to choreography to editing – everything is pretty much average. The cinematography does promise you of a different fare in the beginning but once the second half sets in, you know what to expect.

         Akshay as Agastya is good and I am glad his performance was constrained. Sonakshi doesn’t really have much to do (again!) apart from sing and dance. We do hope this talented lady finds a movie soon where she actually gets to contribute something. Shreyas Talpade is sweet although his character reminds you of Tusshar’s and even his own in Golmaal series. The rest are passable, some of them often hamming but thankfully none get a screen time enough to bug you.

Joker Music Album Details:

Music Directors: G.V. Prakash Kumar & Gaurav Dagaonkar (#Kaafirana)
Singers: Sunidhi Chauhan, Adarsh Shinde, Udit Narayan, Daler Mehndi, Sonu Kakkar, Sonu Nigam, Shweta Pandit
Lyricist: Shirish Kunder
Music Label: Sony Music
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Shreyas Talpade, Jaaved Jaaferi
Year: 2012