‘Raj Kapoor was reduced to dust after making Mera Naam Joker, spiralled into debt,' says Mahesh Bhatt: ‘Those were very trying times for him'

Indian Express

28-07-2025

Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has given several iconic films to Hindi cinema. In his 51-year-long career in the Hindi film industry, the filmmaker says he has come to understand that 'success is a fluke and failure is guaranteed' in the movie business. To illustrate his point, he cited the example of Raj Kapoor's career.
In an interaction on The Himanshu Mehta Show, Mahesh recalled how Raj Kapoor went broke trying to bankroll his now-iconic film Mera Naam Joker (1970), but the film bombed at the box office. However, he eventually received his due three years later with Bobby, which saw immense success at the box office.
He said, 'Raj Kapoor was reduced to dust when he made Mera Naam Joker, but the same Raj Kapoor when he made Bobby, the whole nation came to make him successful because they in a way felt guilty for seeing such a great filmmaker spiral into economic debt. Those were very trying times for him, and that is the same time I joined films. I have seen him in those vulnerable times. Failure is very difficult to take in our business.'
Mahesh Bhatt went on to talk about his conversation with the late legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra and how they both agreed on the importance of speaking more openly about failures with their juniors. He recalled, 'I was talking to Yash Chopra about what we need to talk to a junior about — the certainty of failure. If you want to be in this business, you have to be certain that you will fail more often than succeed. Success is a fluke, failure is guaranteed, and yet you have to keep on going.'
In an old interaction with Filmy Charcha, veteran actor Raza Murad also recalled an instance after Mera Naam Joker and how distributors abandoned Raj Kapoor. He shared, 'After Mera Naam Joker, he was in tremendous debt. Things got so bad that distributors refused to buy Bobby without seeing it first. These were the same people who were once desperate to secure the rights to his movies. But after Mera Naam Joker, everything changed. He refused to show them the movie, but he agreed to show them the songs.'
Prem Chopra, who was a part of Bobby, had earlier spoken to Lehren about how Raj Kapoor had to sell everything after Mera Naam Joker. 'Raj Kapoor was finished! Unka sab kuch bik gaya (He was compelled to sell everything he had). Mera Naam Joker failed miserably at the box office. Raj saab was under a tremendous financial crisis. He not only mortgaged RK Studios but also had to sell off his family properties, but he didn't give up on his love for filmmaking,' he had said.
However, he had the vision to come back with Bobby starring Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia. 'He made this beautiful film (Bobby) which I was also part of. It went on to become a massive success and two new stars were born — Rishi and Dimple. However, during the making of Bobby, it didn't feel he had encountered such a massive failure and continued making it with an equal amount of passion and love,' Chopra had said.