It was by all accounts one of the biggest gambles in Hindi cinema of the time, five years in the making, with a running time of over four hours and two intervals, including two of the best-known circus troupes of India and the Soviet Union. Add to that an outstanding musical score. Mera Naam Joker was to be Raj Kapoors magnum opus. Whetting audience appetite were indications that it would also be the Showmans most autobiographical film. Nothing, it seemed, could come between the film and box-office glory. Shockingly, the film bombed at the box-office-and so badly that RK Films, one of Indias foremost studios, was almost wiped out in the wake of that disaster. Interestingly enough, over the last forty years, the film has attained a cult status and is one of the highest selling home videos in India.

At the time of the films release, its writer K.A. Abbas, in an act years ahead of its time, also published the novelised version of the film to great commercial success. Mera Naam Joker - The Complete Story is that book. A perceptive introduction by Suresh Kohli, analysing the tortuous making of the film and the reasons for its failure, also offers an insight into the creative process through which a story transforms into a film.