Latest news with #MeraNaamJoker
Time of India
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Raza Murad says distributors who once begged for Raj Kapoor's films refused to buy Bobby without seeing it after Mera Naam Joker flop: 'He was in tremendous debt'
Raj Kapoor 's magnum opus Mera Naam Joker may have become a cult classic over time, but at the time of its release, the four-hour-long epic left the legendary actor-filmmaker in financial ruin. The film took six years to make and failed at the box office, putting Kapoor in a position where he was forced to rebuild the trust of an industry that had once revered him. In an interview with Filmy Charcha, veteran actor Raza Murad , who frequently collaborated with Kapoor, reflected on the aftermath of Mera Naam Joker's failure and how it impacted the making of Bobby . 'After Mera Naam Joker, he was in tremendous debt,' Murad said. '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.' Raj Kapoor wouldn't drink until his films got a censor certificate Despite being hailed early in his career and often compared to Orson Welles, Kapoor's subsequent films faced the burden of great expectations. Murad described him as a deeply passionate filmmaker who sacrificed everything, his time, his health, and even his family, for cinema. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo 'He loved his drinks and meat, but he would quit before getting a censor certificate,' Murad recalled. 'He would become absolutely consumed by films. He had the mind of a 14-year-old. He would fall ill a week before his film's release because he would be so tense about its reception. He was aware that his reputation was at stake. It wasn't about the money. He would put everything on the line.' When Raj Kapoor cheated on wife Krishna Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor was a Shiva devotee and musical genius Raj Kapoor, who founded the iconic RK Studios and helped define post-Independence Indian cinema, was also deeply spiritual, Murad said. 'He was a devotee of Lord Shiva, and frequently referenced the Ganga in his films.' The actor also recalled Kapoor's exceptional musical instincts: 'He could play any musical instrument under the sun without practice.' Faced with skepticism from distributors during Bobby, Kapoor stood his ground. He reportedly refused to show them the full film but eventually agreed to show the songs to generate confidence. With Bobby, Raj Kapoor not only revived his fortunes but also launched his son Rishi Kapoor into stardom, proving once again why he was called 'The Showman' of Indian cinema.
Indian Express
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
‘Distributors abandoned Raj Kapoor after Mera Naam Joker, same people who'd beg for his movies were making demands': Raza Murad
Actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor was often compared to Orson Welles. After being hailed as a maestro early in his career, he struggled to live up to that massive success with every subsequent project. He established RK Studios, and his cinema came to define post-Independence India. But his passion project, the four-hour-long Mera Naam Joker, flopped after being in production for six years and Raj was on the verge of losing it all. He took a financial hit because of the film's performance, which also led to the industry losing faith in him as he mounted his next film, Bobby. In an interview, his frequent collaborator, actor Raza Murad, recalled working with 'The Showman', and said that distributors who would once fall over themselves to secure the rights to his movies refused to buy them sight unseen. In an interview with Filmy Charcha, Raza Murad recalled what Raj Kapoor was like as a person and an artiste, and said that he could play any musical instrument under the sun without practice. He was also a devotee of Lord Shiva, and frequently alluded to this by referencing the Ganga in his films. He would also abstain from drinking alcohol after he finished shooting his films, and wouldn't start drinking again until his film received its censor certificate. 'He loved his drinks and meat, but he would quit before getting a censor certificate,' Raza Murad recalled. Also read – Bollywood's most celebrated Golden Age writer died penniless, burdened by heavy debts; Javed Akhtar blamed Raj Kapoor He continued, 'He would sacrifice everything for his films, including time with his family, and his children. He would become absolutely consumed by films. He had the mind of a 14-year-old. He would fall ill a week before his film's release, because he would be so tensed about its reception. He was aware that his reputation was at stake. It wasn't about the money. He would put everything on the line. 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.' In an interview with Zoom Entertainment last year, the veteran actor Prem Chopra reflected on the difficulties that Raj Kapoor faced after Mera Naam Joker bombed. '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 said. In a 2018 press interaction, Raj Kapoor's son, the late Rishi Kapoor, spoke about the problems that they faced after Mera Naam Joker. 'When Mera Naam Joker was about to release, our studio and all our assets were mortgaged to release that film, and the picture bombed. We were in severe problems. Then he made a film called Bobby with new boy and new girl, which was a huge risk after seeing the failure of Mera Naam Joker. But it became super hit and that is when his friends and my uncles insisted that he should to buy a house,' he said, making a reference to the film that launched him and Dimple Kapadia.
India.com
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India.com
This 16 year old girl rescued Raj Kapoor's failing career, her name is.., she was married to..
This 16 year old girl rescued Raj Kapoor's failing career, her name is.., she was married to.. In the glitzy and glamorous world of Bollywood, it is often the dazzling and picture-perfect lives of the celebrities that take the center stage. However, what happens behind the scenes when the curtain falls is a lot more than what meets the eye. Behind every actor who has earned huge stardom is a story of struggle, challenges, and resilience that is often overshadowed by humongous success. But legends are also not built in a day; their journey entails stories that almost broke them off, but their comeback was so loud that people forgot about the existence of their setback. One such story is that of a legendary actor and director, known as the 'Showman' of Bollywood. His charisma, charm, and strong storytelling have been a great contribution to Indian cinema and remain unmatched even today. But before rising to fame, he went through despair that had his whole career at stake, but during that phase, a girl came to his rescue and pulled him out of the brink of bankruptcy. The actor and filmmaker we are talking about is none other than the legendary Raj Kapoor. Raj Kapoor saw major success in his career; he was delivering iconic films after iconic films. But then a tide came when he took a massive risk by putting all his investments in a particular film, 'Mera Naam Joker.' However, despite his sheer conviction, the project failed at the box office, and Raj Kapoor suffered under major loss. He was financially devastated. He had to mortgage his wife's jewellery and his studio to bear the losses. During this time, Raj Kapoor had hit rock bottom; he had everything on stake. But in a turn of events, came a 16-year-old girl with a breath of fresh air who pulled him out of this darkness. That actress was none other than Dimple Kapadia, who was featured in the film Bobby. Dimple wasn't just a newcomer; she later went on to marry the iconic superstar, Rajesh Khanna. But during the time she was featured in Bobby, she not only became a massive hit herself, but she also helped Raj Kapoor redeem his doomed career. Bobby became a massive hit and marked a grand comeback for Raj Kapoor. It also featured Rishi Kapoor in the lead. The success of Bobby not only launched Dimple's career but also helped revive RK Studios and secure Raj Kapoor's legacy for years to come. The man who took Indian cinema to new heights also once went through a phase that almost destroyed him, but resilience, hard work, and fate rewrote his destiny, and even today, his legacy continues to shine.
Indian Express
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
20 years after Bobby, ‘unlucky' Rudaali changed Dimple Kapadia's fortune; broke the idea of ‘glamorous' heroine and established her as an actor
Dimple Kapadia was only 14 when Raj Kapoor decided that she had every quality of becoming the next big star in Hindi movies. After the debacle of Mera Naam Joker, he needed a hit to get RK Films out of the massive debt. He needed a film that had the capacity of changing his fortune and so, he decided to launch his 21-year-old son Rishi Kapor and Dimple in Bobby. By the time the film released, Dimple was 16, and even before she could actually experience her success, she got married to the superstar of that time Rajesh Khanna. Reading this in 2025, one would wonder why her marriage was a hindrance to her enjoying her success, and the truth is as orthodox as it could be. Rajesh wanted his wife to be a mother to his children, while he went out and worked in the movies and still had the privilege of being called the father to his daughters – Twinkle and Rinke. 'I had no problems with my wife working. But when I married Dimple, I wanted a mother for my children. I didn't want them to be brought up by servants. And I had no idea of Dimple's talent; Bobby had still not released,' he told Movie magazine in 1980. His declaration resulted in Dimple giving up a highly promising career in the movies. Many years later, she made a comeback with Ramesh Sippy's 1985 film Saagar, after she moved out of Rajesh's house. Dimple continued to work through the 1980s as she was a single mother responsible for her two daughters. After films like Allah Rakha, Bees Saal Baad, Pati Parmeshwar and many similar titles which were equally forgettable, Dimple became popular but it was only after Kalpana Lajmi's 1993 film Rudaali that Dimple started her career as a celebrated actor. Rudaali fetched Dimple her only National Film Award for Best Actress. Rudaali was unlike many of her previous projects where makers often cast her to increase the glamour quotient of their film. Dimple knew what she wanted to be as an actor, and she was finally getting her due. 'I suppose I was always associated with glamour. I had taken that for granted so my entire energy went towards projecting myself as an actress, building up myself as an actress and I wanted to be recognised as an actress,' she said on The Pritish Nandy Show in the early 1990s. ALSO READ | Nargis' brother beat her up because of her relationship with Raj Kapoor; she lost money, opportunities while he set up his studio Rudaali had her playing the role of a rather unfortunate woman named Shanichari. She got her ominous name from those who lived around her because they believed that she was the carrier of bad luck. 'Apne baap ko kha gayi (She killed her own father),' they said and made her believe that a newborn was somehow responsible for her father's death. Her mother abandoned her as a baby, and since then, she grew up around men who were always ready to pounce on her. Dimple's Shanichari grew up defending herself from harassment and ended up in a village where an upper caste zamindar believed that he was doing her a favour by asking for consent, instead of assaulting her. She is bullied, manipulated by the so-called leaders of the society and when a local priest forces her to take on a massive debt that leaves her distraught, Shanichari has no choice but to work as a bonded labour. But despite all these troubles in her life, she never sheds a tear. Contrary to the title Rudaali, which is used for a professional mourner, Dimple's character has never cried. She is not even one of those who mulls over her troubles. It's almost like she has accepted this troubled life as her normal and does not even believe that things could ever get better. She plays Shanichari like a woman who can't afford to be fragile, vulnerable. She always has to keep her guard up for she can't depend on anyone. In moments where life shows her its darkest side, she is disappointed but she never breaks down. Dimple has a strange resolve on her face as she plays Shanichari. She can empathise with this woman's pain but completely understands that breaking down won't do her any good. Mahesh Bhatt, in a 1985 interview with India Today, implied that Dimple Kapadia had been through so much in her life that she did not need any training to be an actor. 'Dimple Kapadia has gone through so much in her life that she need not read up the text books of method acting to play a real woman. She only has to be herself,' he said. In a significant scene in Rudaali, when Dimple's character befriends a woman from a neighbouring village, who forces her to cry just to let out her emotions, she detests the thought of expressing emotions in a public manner. This was strangely common between Dimple and Shanichari. Since her separation from her husband in the 1980s, Dimple fiercely guarded her personal life. There have been very few interactions where she candidly spoke about her family. A year before she signed Rudaali, Dimple gave a rare interview to Pritish Nandy where she spoke about her sister Reem's suicide in 1991, and her brother Suhail's drug problem. Talking about Reem's suicide, Dimple shared that she was yet to cope with it. 'With my brother's drug problem, yes, it was very difficult. It was the first time it happened in our family and he was destroying himself and my parents were completely destroyed. There was so much violence all around and today he is alright, he is back to normal. But those years were really bad,' she said. Dimple was dealing with a lot in her personal life when she decided to take up Rudaali and Shanichari almost became an outlet for her emotions. Dimple Kapadia wasn't always the wisest when it came to selecting her roles but things started to change when she appeared in films like Rudaali and Lekin. She limited her appearances and after 2001's Dil Chahta Hai, she became conscious about her choices. Luck By Chance, Finding Fanny, Being Cyrus have been some of her most applauded films in the last few years. Sampada Sharma has been the Copy Editor in the entertainment section at Indian Express Online since 2017. ... Read More
India Today
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Why Mahesh Babu's Khaleja is finally getting the love it missed 15 years ago
The final dialogue from the film 'Khaleja', 'Athbhutham jarige tappudu evvaru gurthinchaleru, jarigina tharuvatha evvaru gurthinchalsina avasaram ledu' which translates to, 'No one recognises a miracle while it's happening; and once it's done, there's no need to recognise it" - has come to reflect the film's own journey. What was once seen as a commercial failure in 2010 has now, fifteen years later, turned into a record-breaking success with its re-release. A miracle that went unnoticed at first, only to be celebrated long after it had quietly made a film's success is judged by its box office performance. But is that the only metric? This debate of success versus impact has existed for as long as cinema itself. Box office numbers depend on much more than just the quality of the film: timing, audience sensibilities, release competition, packaging, genre, the star's momentum. All of these played a part in the film's box office success. But, if success also means longevity, cultural relevance and emotional celebration, then a good film will always find its way into the hearts of audiences, even if it takes are countless examples in Indian cinema. From Guru Dutt's Kaagaz Ke Phool and Raj Kapoor's Mera Naam Joker to Shah Rukh Khan's Swades, films that failed at first found cult status later. Telugu cinema too has its share of such films, including Ram Charan's 'Orange', Rana's 'Leader', Ravi Teja's Neninthe, and among them, Mahesh Babu and Trivikram's Khaleja stands out as a film whose second life seems far more powerful than its Khaleja Failed to Impress in 2010advertisement Released on October 7, 2010, Khaleja arrived with high expectations. It marked the reunion of Mahesh Babu and Trivikram Srinivas after Athadu, a film that also gained widespread recognition after its satellite run. By then, Mahesh had already become a mass hero following Pokiri. However, his previous two films - Sainikudu and Athidi - were commercial disappointments, and Khaleja marked his comeback after a three-year the film's promotional interviews, when asked about his hiatus and the role in Khaleja, Mahesh Babu remarked, 'I felt a sense of monotony with the characters I was playing. I wanted to break out of that bubble, so I went all in with this one. Alluri Seetharama Raju in Khaleja is the most challenging and significant role of my career.' This shift in tone and the long gap between films contributed to heightened expectations among too, was riding high after Pawan Kalyan's Jalsa, and expectations were sky-high. But, upon its release, Khaleja received mostly negative responses. Critics pointed to its confusing themes, uneven screenplay and the lack of strong action moments. Despite Mahesh Babu's entertaining performance, fans were divided. The film also released around the same time as Rajinikanth and Shankar's Enthiran, which affected Khaleja's run in an interview with iDream, producer C Kalyan remarked, 'Before common audiences saw the merit in the film, Mahesh Babu's fans themselves killed the film. Their expectations were high, expecting a mass entertainer, but here he was, doing comedy which people didn't accept. They compared it to Robot (Endhiran) and dismissed it. But, I knew Khaleja would become a trendsetter.'What Makes Khaleja an Over-Time Classic?While Khaleja may not be a perfect film, several of its elements are undeniably striking. Mahesh Babu as Alluri Sitarama Raju, a taxi driver, is fresh, humorous, grounded and entirely believable. His reactions, one-liners and comedy timing add a layer of spontaneity. Even in high-stakes sequences, he never breaks the character of Seetharama Raju. His iconic use of "Bhayya!" became a pop culture comedy is another high point. It's woven into the fabric of the narrative, not added as filler but as organic, dialogue-heavy moments. The chase scene involving Govardhan in the second half is a great example. The intensity is contrasted by its quirky energy, making it both entertaining and Trivikram attempts to layer deeper philosophical ideas into the plot, about God, purpose and faith. At the film's success meet, the director, explaining the core of the film, said, 'After the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna ruled for many years. He died a normal man, his children were killed, thieves looted the kingdom. We don't talk about that because, to us, he is God when he speaks the Bhagavad Gita. Similarly, when an auto driver saves a man in an accident, he becomes God to that man, for that moment, for the outside world, he is an ordinary auto driver. Similarly, our hero.' It's a bold, layered idea. One that took time to be understood and Trivikram's signature dialogue writing elevated the film, intense lines like "Gaali velu chusthundi (the wind will lead the way) or 'Nela vollu virucukuntundi sidda (The earth will tear apart its skin, Sidda), or the famous monologue in the climax are now quoted with reverence, not just for their meaning, but for their literary time, social media discourse, decoding videos, and re-watches have also brought attention to the film's aesthetics, from Mani Sharma's music to the cinematography and production Khaleja a Perfect Film?Despite its cult following, many of the film's original criticisms still hold. The pacing is slow. While the chemistry between Mahesh Babu and Anushka works, her character Subhashini's role, too, feels underwritten. The villain, a corporate mining kingpin, comes across as a convenient caricature in an otherwise ambitious importantly, the film fails to invest enough time in its central theme. About 50 per cent of Khaleja is comedy, 40 per cent is set up, and barely 10 per cent is devoted to exploring the idea of godhood and existentialism. The one scene where Seetharama Raju has his realisation is brilliant, but there should have been more such moments to lend weight to the for all its flaws, Khaleja is a rare attempt. A film that blends philosophy, humour and commercial sensibilities in a way Telugu cinema hadn't seen before. It may not have worked in 2010, but fifteen years on, its resonance is louder than ever.
