'Joker' (Hindi)
Director: Shirish Kunder
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Shreyas Talpade,Minissha Lamba, Asrani, Vindu Dara Singh and others
I should have got the hint when Akshay Kumar, that king of lowbrow comedy, himself stayed away from promotional events because he “didn’t like how Joker was shaping up."
Hell, I should have got the hint when I learnt it was directed by Shirish Kunder. But no, I went and saw it; and so I can say with some authority that 'Joker' is so lowbrow it’s meant for people with eyes above their brow-lines.
Everything in the film feels laboured, from the explanation of the title to the attempts at humour.
The story does away with the trappings of narrative, reason, progression and originality.
Here’s the premise: Agastya aka Sattu (Akshay Kumar) is a scientist who is being funded by an American think tank to communicate with aliens.
His nemesis is a Mick Hucknall look-alike called Simon Goeback (Alexx O’ Nell), who, it appears, wants the research grant that has been wasted on Agastya.
Agastya lives with Diva (Sonakshi Sinha), who is so cognitively challenged it takes her four years to figure out that she hasn’t been introduced to his family.
The film has already acquainted us with a British cartographer’s early contact with a village populated by lunatics. The high point of the couple’s return to Pagalpur is Agastya’s sad back story.
In the absence of even the Akshay Kumar trademarks, I doubt the film has a single salvaging factor.
Verdict: The only sentiment I was left with at the end of the film was, “Joker ko cinema se nikaalkar taash ki gaddi pe daalo".