Bollywood is always left a mark in world cinema for its flashy sequences more than the nature of its artistic inclination. Mainstream Bollywood has always been identified on the ornate lines. While cinematic geniuses like Satyajit Ray are celebrated Indian film makers known for the genius of their understanding of films, mostly Bollywood is expected to be flamboyant and mindless.

Fiji too has similar expectations and hence cinema goers in Fiji prefer the thorough entertainment of gibberish film to the ones with a greater artistic bent. Apparently Akshay Kumar’s disastrous Joker was also a hit in Fiji. It is clearly not by fluke and more by preference that mindless ventures like Himmatwala and Joker are the preferred avenues of entertainment for natives there.

Himmatwala and Joker Movie Poster

While most will have a grand laugh over this news piece, there’s one who is already working out his next vacation to Fiji – Sajid Khan owes it to those himmatwalas out there!

Meanwhile, Himmatwala is a bigger disaster than Joker in USA. Rather the movie is a disaster at the Overseas Box Office.

Farah Khan:

Farah Khan at the launch of a new channel, Nick Juniors

Ace choreographer Farah Khan decided to leap on to the big arena with best friend and brother figure Shah Rukh in tow as she delivered superhits like Main Hoon Na and a blockbuster in Om Shanti Om. But a reported fallout with the actor forced her to shift loyalty towards the Khiladi Kumar. Over hyped and over expected, Tees Maar Khan was a disastrous film, where the story writer had seriously taken high doses of aspirin to pen out such a marvelous story for us! Story? Was there any? We could not find one indeed! With no content and storyline and flawless buffoonery of the term acting, Tees Maar Khan was a head ache for everyone! While the no-brainer could not even serve the paisa vasool theory of Farah, sans the Sheila Ki Jawaani number with Katrina Kaif doing a Shakira with aplomb, eyes are set on the successful duo’s comeback film Happy New Year to rock the nation once again post the OSO storm! Get back to what you do best, Farah: dance and entertain!

Sajid Khan:

Sajid Khan

A stage comedian turned self proclaimed ‘prolific’ director Sajid Khan has always had a hatke way to success with his mad cap slapstick comic capers working the trick always for him, until there was this incredibly dull and melodramatically stupid Himmatwala remake which changed Sajid’s iconic ‘Entertainer’ tag and freed him from the shackles of over-confidence and imprudence. The failure of his latest Himmatwala is a perfect eye opener of sorts for this otherwise chilled out director. One who always took great mileage out of delivering super hits like Heyy Babby, Housefull and Housefull 2 has finally fallen numb in his feet, err mouth! While films with loose narratives have still managed to ultimately prove profitable ventures for Sajid, he might have expected the same out of his utterly disgusting and mindless remake. Not did the film boast of the coming together of two heavyweights Ajay Devgn and Sajid, Himmatwala also put an end to the winning streak of both the actor and director. With a film with Saif Ali Khan and Riteish Deshmukh already on cards and Housefull 3 in the pipeline, one would expect Sajid to bounce back in style, denuded from his otherwise presumptuous nature!

Shirish Kunder:

Farah Khan and Shirish Kunder

Shirish, shirish? Yes, dear! Cracking jokes at other films? Yes, dear! What about your films? Ha ha ha! Yes, a person who is so overtly critical of everyone else’s movies and flicks, sometimes calling it a firework fizzling out, Shirish Kunder’s films have remained damp much due to the lethargy that Kunder is heavily known of. Mocking others and not correcting himself has helped his troubled film maker get the ‘brash’ tag from most of the industry insiders. From Shah Rukh Khan to Akshay Kumar and reportedly Salman Khan, he had a tiff with all. His debut vehicle was a debacle of sorts but his Joker made a complete joker out of him, as the film was panned by critics and audience at large, thereby snatching his opportunity to direct Salman Khan’s Kick! While working with Shirish today is seen as a big risk factor, we advise this unabashedly irritating individual to take a break from films and join politics! Well, words do matter and talking silly is what you need to be a good politician! Why not try for a Film Critics job otherwise? Happy is a man who lives by his hobby, they say! Do whatever but Spare us from your moronic and puerile films, please!

Sonakshi Sinha

This is your one stop shop for the latest happenings in the town. The buzz. The release plans. The launches. The works. Yes, this is serious business and we will bring to you the most reliable information at the weekend. Have a dekko.

Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder

Actor Imran Khan has been nominated for his acting in Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu and Anushka Sharma has been nominated for her work in Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

Others competing in the worst actor (male) category are Ajay Devgn for Son of Sardaar and Bol Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt for Agneepath, Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan for Student Of The Year. Akshay Kumar’s name too figures in this list for Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore, Joker and Khiladi 786.

Apart from Anushka, those nominated for the worst actress trophy are Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty for Cocktail, Farah Khan for Shirin Farhad Ki Nikal Padi, Alia Bhatt for Student Of The Year and Sonakshi Sinha for all her films this year.

Shirish Kunder’s Joker will compete in the worst film category along with Housefull 2, Son Of Sardaar, Khiladi 786, Dabangg 2 and Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

Salman Khan in a still from Dabangg 2 Movie

The nominees for worst director are Shirish Kunder for Joker, Arbaaz Khan for Dabangg 2, Karan Johar for Student Of The Year, Kabir Khan for Ek Tha Tiger and Sajid Khan for Housefull 2.

The numbers nominated in the most irritating song category are “Chinta ta chita chita” (Rowdy Rathore), “Son of sardaar” (Son of Sardaar), “Anarkali disco chali” (Housefull 2), “Disco deewane” (Student Of The Year) and “Hookah bar” (Khiladi 786).

The nominations of the most atrocious lyrics are “Ishq wala love” (Student of the Year), “Halkat jawani” (Heroine), “Bipasha Bipasha” (Jodi Breakers), “Pon pon” (Son Of Sardaar), “Chinta ta chita chita (Rowdy Rathore) and “Hookah bar” (Khiladi 786).

The nominees for worst sequel are Dabangg 2, Housefull 2, Jannat 2, Jism 2, Raaz 3, Kya Super Kool Hain Hum, Bhoot Returns and 1920 Evil Returns.

There is another category– Why Are You Still Trying? Award, which has Karisma Kapoor, Chandrachur Singh, Aftab Shivdasani, Shiney Ahuja, Prachi Desai and Jackky Bhagnani as nominees.

The awards will be announced in March.

Akshay Kumar In Joker Movie Stills, Salman Khan In Ek Tha Tiger Movie Stills

Talking about the content of both the movie’s – Kabir Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger and Shirish Kunder’s Joker both weren’t blessed with what we call a “spectacular script.” It all comes down to one thing in Bollywood – “Star Power”. Salman Khan is nothing less than the key ingredient to a successful Bollywood flick. The same applies to Akshay, but it seems he’s not as effective as Salman.

Consider the opening day box office collections of Ek Tha Tiger & Joker and you will see a huge difference of about 7 times. When Ek Tha Tiger did 32.92 Crores on it’s opening day Joker made a petty 4.6 Crores. So does this determine that Salman has 7 times the star power of Akshay? We leave that to you for guessing!

Akshay’s switch from action to comedy indeed fared well for quite some time but till when is the question. Will OMG Oh My God! reinstate Akshay as the comedy king or shatter that image forever. We will have to wait to find out. But when we talk about star power, it seems none stands a chance in front of the Tiger’s Road.

Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha (Joker Movie Stills)

For an Akshay Kumar starrer, this is the biggest failure in the recent times. With Raaz 3 on the floors, Joker will suffer a devastating end at the domestic box office. The movie hasn’t even done any magic at the overseas box office making less than 2 Crores nett. Joker will find it difficult to survive another week at the box office.

Sonakshi Sinha and Akahay Kumar (Joker Movie Stills)

The movie is slated to be one of the biggest box office disasters of Bollywood in 2012.

The movie is rumoured to go off the theatres to make away for the releases of Raaz 3 and Barfi! both which are expected to be box office hits.

Akshay Kumar In Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore and Joker Movie Posters

However the second half seems to have a slowed down the Khiladi Kumar. Akshay’s films Housefull 2 earned approx 14 crores at the box office on the opening day and Rowdy Rathore earned approx 15.1 crores on the opening day.  The box office graph saw a shocking drop in the figures as his last release Joker, bombed at the box office and earned a meagre 4.60 crores approx on the opening day.  During the first weekend Rowdy Rathore earned approx 48.5 crores and Housefull 2 earned 42 crores.

However going by the figures, Joker is expected to earn approx 15 crores in it’s first week. Joker is facing tough competition at the box office with Salman’s Ek Tha Tiger, which has proved to be a greater crowd puller. Housefull 2 and Rowdy Rathore both touched the 100crore mark and earned 114 crores and 131 crores at the box office respectively in the final earnings.  However by the response received by Joker, doesn’t seem like this will be crossing even the 20 crore mark in box office collections.

Akshay Kumar in OMG Oh My God! and Khiladi 786 Movie Poster

Akshay Kumar fans however need not be disappointed. He has two more major releases this year- namely – OMG- Oh My god and Khiladi 786.  With his successful run of the Khiladi movies back in the 90′s , lets hope Akshay can redeem his Khiladi avatar and enthrall the audiences.

Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Kumar In Joker Movie Stills

With an opening of merely 20% (which didn’t really show much improvement over the weekend either), ‘Joker‘ continued to be poor all through. After the weekend collections in the range of 15-16 crores, the film doesn’t carry many hopes in the rest of the week either. Despite the fact that it managed a solo release for itself and ‘Ek Tha Tiger‘ wasn’t a huge competition any more, ‘Joker’ has proved to be a downer at the box office. Though it is obvious that the film would suffer losses, the only silver lining is that the losses won’t be of disastrous proportions since the film hasn’t been sold at a very fancy price.

Meanwhile Akshay Kumar has moved on and is already eyeing ‘OMG – Oh My God‘ as his next money-spinner. Sonakshi Sinha has seen a break in her century run but has ‘Son of Sardaar‘ and ‘Dabangg 2‘ lined up to bring her back in the reckoning rather soon. On the other hand Shirish Kunder could well be taking a short break before announcing his next.

Other releases of the week, ‘I M 24‘, ‘From Sydney With Love‘ and ‘Jalpari‘, didn’t find any favour whatsoever from the audience. Poor release, negligible show count, abrupt arrival and hardly any mention from those within and outside the industry further proved to be a death knell for these small budget affairs. Each of these is a major commercial failure.

Sonakshi Sinha, Akshay Kumar and Shreyas Talpade (Joker Movie Stills)

The movie it seems will have to rely on it’s Saturday and Sunday box office collections to leave any mark at it’s 1st weekend box office. Let’s see if Joker floats or sinks like Tees Maar Khan.

Joker Movie Poster

Rating: 2 stars (Two stars)

Star cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Shreyas Talpade, Minissha Lamba, Vindu Dara Singh, Asrani, Chitrangda Singh (item song), Darshan Jariwala.

What’s Good: The direction; the music; the cinematography; some puns.

What’s Bad: The predictable storyline.

Loo Break: None.

Watch or Not?: It’s a timepass watch but not really engrossing.

User Rating :

As bland as the title of the film may sound, Joker does not disappoint.

In a bit of an out-of-world way, the small village of Pagalpur is overlooked when India’s map is being charted during independence. After the inmates of the mental asylum in the village break loose, all the other inhabitants flee the place.

Surrounded by his crackling machines, Agastya (Akshay Kumar) is a scientist in the US searching for signs of life beyond the earth. When he has nothing more than static to show his research sponsors, Agastya has a month to hope that ET or his brethren show him proof of their existence. When he finds out that his father is seriously ill, he abandons his work and goes back to Paglapur with this girlfriend Diva (Sonakshi Sinha).

The current inhabitants of Paglapur make one hell of a fruit basket. There’s Agastya’s brother (Shreyas Talpade) who speaks only in a strange tongue, his cross-eyed father (Darshan Jariwala), a loud friend (Vindu Dara Singh), a teacher (Asrani) who thinks that WW2 is still on and many others. Agastya finds out that his father was faking illness but decides to stay back and help the villagers out of their misery. Since Paglapur is not on the map of India, they don’t belong to any state, have no electricity, roads or water supply. Since the tiny crackpot village has nothing to offer, even the ministers Agastya approaches for help pass the buck to the next state.

At last Agastya comes up with a plan: to create crop circles in Paglapur and sell it to the media and the world as alien doing. Soon his plan brings reporters and scientists in hordes to the village and things are starting to look up with lots of song and dance. But Agastya’s competitor Simon Goeback (get it?) (Alexx ONell) puts a spanner in the works when he arrives in Paglapur and calls the whole thing a hoax.

This other-worldly mess plays out in the rest of the movie.

Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Shreyas Talpade, Asrani (Joker Movie Stills)

Joker Review: Script Analysis

Shirish Kunder’s premise for Joker is too simplistic. Obviously, logic takes a backseat but it’s the predictability that is the real downer. The dialogues are alright. Some of the puns like Simon Goeback, the tongue-in-cheek timing of the Ayega song etc. are well written. The reason behind the title of the film Joker is well thought of.

Why Agastya decides to stay back is not convincingly done. While scientists from all over the world ascertain the crop circles have an alien hand, how does Simon blow their lid in less than 5 seconds? Why do the armed forces stand at the perimeter of the forest where the aliens appear instead of hiding inside the forest? And why the heck did they open fire on them? Looks like Jadoo took all the logic away in his spaceship.

Joker Review: Star Performances

Akshay Kumar does a good job but nothing extraordinary as Agastya. Sonakshi Sinha mostly clings on to Akki’s arm as his girlfriend Diva. Shreyas Talpade is very good as the brother and manages to convey all his emotions with just a handful of gibberish words that he has to mouth throughout the movie. Vindu Dara Singh’s act is annoying. Thankfully Minissha Lamba gets very little time for hamming as a press reporter. Darshan Jariwala and Asrani are good as Agastya’s father and nut job of a teacher respectively.

Joker Review: Direction, Editing & Music

There’s not much that director Shirish Kunder could do to the script, but he does a good job. His editing is alright. Gaurav Dagaonkar and G. V. Prakash Kumar’s songs are enjoyable. Shirish’s background score goes well with the scenes. Sudeep Chatterjee and Anay Goswami’s cinematography is very nice. The colours keep the movie quite cheerful. Visual effects are well done.

Joker Review: The Last Word

Joker is an amusing but predictable fare. Nothing out-of-this-world.

Joker Trailer

Joker movie releases on 31st August, 2012

Sonakshi Sinha, Akshay Kumar, Shreyas Talpade ( Joker Movie Stills)

This also means that unlike a ‘masala‘ blockbuster a la ‘Ek Tha Tiger‘, ‘Rowdy Rathore‘, ‘Housefull 2‘, ‘Bol Bachchan‘, ‘Agneepath‘, ‘Ra. One‘ or ‘Don 2‘, each of the films in last one years which promised a solid start from the very first show and fetched 100 crores or more at the box office, ‘Joker’ is a film that is expected to grow as the day progresses and register some good collections over the rest of the weekend, if the word of mouth is really positive.

Though currently there are a million stories floating around the pre-release promotion of the film, eventually it should all boil down to the content. What works in the favour of this Akshay Kumar-Sonakshi Sinha starrer is that one can expect the unexpected in the final results. Also, one has to keep in mind the fact that both the actors are coming after two blockbusters each and there is a large fan-base/regular audience which does check out a film regardless of what is published or written about in various forums or social media.

While the opening few shows are expected in the range of 50%-60%, there is enough potential to grow for two major reasons. First and foremost there is no significant competition this week. Secondly, the run of ‘Ek Tha Tiger‘ is almost coming to an end which means ‘Joker‘ can consolidate it’s position, especially if kids catch fancy of this sci-fi flick.

Shirish Kunder on the sets of Joker Movie with Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha

Since this was the second film (after Dabangg) that she started working on (though Rowdy Rathore started later and released earlier), one wonders whether she is just a quintessential heroine in a ‘masala’ outing with a few songs and five scenes to her credit or is there something more up her sleeves as well.

“Let me take your question one by one. First and foremost ‘masala’ outing doesn’t mean that you end up showing something that has already been seen 500 times. For some strange reasons in recent times we have started equating ‘masala’ with that. It is not true. Secondly, as for Sonakshi Sinha playing a quintessential heroine then well, she brings in a lot of entertainment to Joker“, says Shirish Kunder.

Further explaining her presence in the film, he adds, “Sonakshi Sinha has a much bigger role in the film when compared to her earlier films. In fact Joker unravels from her point of view and her screen time is equivalent to that of Akshay Kumar. This is in fact her first full fledged role and moreover she also has two looks in the film. While in the first half she would seen in Western attire, in the second half she turns totally Indian.”

With the film less than three days away from release, we would love to see what Sonakshi Sinha has really done in ‘Joker’.

Jugnu Song – Joker Movie | Akshay Kumar And Sonakshi Sinha

Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Kumar in Jugnu Song in Joker Movie Stills

Joker releases 31st August 2012

User rating:

Rowdy hit pair of Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha is yet again prepared to hit the box office with its upcoming movie Joker. The music of the movie is composed by the G.V Prakash with Gaurav Dagaonkar chipping in as well. Lyrics are penned by Shirish Kunder himself who is definitely aiming at the masses here.

Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Kumar dance steps on a song in Joker Movie Stills

Joker Music Review: I Want Just You (Kafirana)

The album begins with the item number I Want Just You – Kafirana which is already a hit. We have heard hit folk item numbers from U.P and Bihar, but this one is a latest experiment in the series – a Maharashtrain item number with the theme of ‘Lavani’. Composed by Gaurav Dagaonkar and sung by powerhouse Sunidhi Chauhan, this is yet another addition to the family of ‘Sheela’ and’ Munni’. The catchy lines of the track I Want Just You were originally I Want ‘Fakht’ You that suggestively used a Marathi word and thereafter was changed to avert any controversy. This one is a fine composition that uses traditional Indian instruments that create their own magic.

Joker Music Review: Jugnu

The soulful and addictive voice of Udit Narayan is back with Jugnu. A nice treat to the listeners, the initiation of this track reminds one of the ever-so-memorable character ‘Jaadu’ from Koi… Mil Gaya. This one promises to fit in well with the story, courtesy lyrics by Shrish.

Joker Music Review: Sing Raja

Next in the list is Sing Raja with vocals being shared by the Bhangra maestro Daler Mehendi and Sonu Kakkar. This one is a fast and an electrifying number. Sing Raja seems to be more of a techno based fusion of the instruments with extremely bizarre lyrics that go as ‘Dance Kar Le English mein, aur naach le tu Hindi mein’. Overall the song proves to be an average affair.

Joker Music Review: Yeh Joker

Yeh Joker is a duet with vocals by Sonu Nigam and Shweta Pandit which marks the mood of celebration, joy and happiness. With add-on vocals by Gaurav and G.V Prakash, the song includes powerful beating of dhol and drums in the background, hence turning out to be quite energetic. Moreover, lyrics by Shirish are also uncomplicated and interesting.

Joker Music Review: Tears of Joker

The album moves ahead with Tears of Joker, an instrumental. The composer has very well blended various classical instruments including melodious flute, delightful and pleasant soft strings along with rhythmic tabla and a stunning sargam that prompt you to close your eyes and reach to a distant beautiful world. Female chorus in the background further enhances the beauty of this track. Tears of Joker is really an enjoyable number that adds another dimension to the music album.

Joker Music Review: Alien Arrival

The album concludes with an instrumental track Alien Arrival that very well sketches the arrival of Aliens, welcoming them to Akshay’s wonderland. This one is a good and powerful track, the opening of which resembles sound of the 80s with the later part resembling the beats of an army band. Composer Prakash has used the trumpet magnificently, hence infusing an element of passion and energy. This unusual and a diverse composition very well creates the right amount of suspense, anticipation and mystery which would certainly pull the audiences to the theaters.

Joker Music Review: The Last Word

Overall the tracks of Joker are good whereby each song has its own story to tell. Though not each one of them has chartbuster written on it, it has in it to fit in well into the film’s narrative.

Akshay Kumar and Shirish Kunder

After choosing an unconventional story about aliens landing in a village, did you promise yourself to work towards visual treatment as well once you started filming ‘Joker’?
It is not about making a promise, it is an intention to bring something new visually. If that is not to be the case then why direct? I can just write or perhaps go on to produce a film and then leave it that that. The reason why I directed ‘Joker’ is because the story demands certain treatment.

How exactly?
I will explain. Look at Jaan-E-Mann; at the face of it was a normal love triangle but I made it look different from visuals perspective. It was my first film and I did whatever I could do best. I remember Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Preity Zinta being amazed with what they saw on screen even though during the days of shooting they didn’t have much clue around what was being shot since we did a lot of work on VFX.

Looks like it was Akshay’s turn to be surprised again?
(Smiles) Yes, Joker too has a very different style with completely different visuals. Lot of scenes featuring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha have been filled with VFX. My films would always have certain visual difference to them and that’s the reason why the entire palette of Joker is so distinct.

How about the commercial perspectives of the film though? Now that the film is being released, do we see an out and out mass entertainer in the offering or something that is primarily a visual benchmark?
Of course the intention is to make a mass entertainer only. However for some strange reason many out there feel that mass entertainers are only those films which are either brain dead or remakes! Come on, ek achchi story bhi mass entertainer ho sakti hai. You can have humour, drama, action – everything that children can also understand.

Still, the film is an experiment of sorts, isn’t it?
I look at it this way. When you do something which is formulaic, you know pretty sure-shot that the film would do so and so business. With new things and experimentation though you can only hope that audience likes what you make. (Smiles) Even Einstein didn’t invent everything on the same day and gained success; he used to keep making something new everyday and then get his success!

Joker Movie Dialogue Promo 4 | Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha And Shreyas Talpade

Akshay Kumar, Sinakshi Shina In Joker Movie Stills

Joker releases 31st August 2012