There might be a utopian vision inside Shirish Kunder’s “Joker,” a Bollywood comedy about establishing contact with extraterrestrials. But if so, it’s buried under a mountain of static.
In California the scientist Agastya (Akshay Kumar) has spent years employing a kind of high-tech radio to send communications signals into space, but no aliens are biting. Now his backers threaten to pull the plug.
Then Agastya is called to his hometown, Paglapur, a fictional place on the Pakistan-India border never claimed by either country because it was founded by insane-asylum escapees. His father is said to be ill, but it turns out that Agastya, accompanied by his girlfriend, Diva (Sonakshi Sinha), is needed to save Paglapur from economic hardship.
In the hopes of attracting investment to his home, he makes up several ploys to draw news media attention, abetted by the locals, a gallery of overdrawn caricatures (including Shreyas Talpade as his brother, Babban, literally speaking in gibberish). The stratagems — fake crop circles; dressing as aliens and putting on a show for the camera crews; and, apparently, musical production numbers — grow desperate, much like the humor.
Three countries want business with Paglapur, and for a second the suggestion of a free Kashmir comes to mind, with a secular philosophy. (“This is my god,” Agastya says of his quest.) But that’s where the idealism ends. When a real alien visits (one with dance moves), it solves Paglapur’s problems by finding oil there. Another global hot spot generating fossil fuels? I thought Bollywood comedies had happy endings.
Continue reading the main story