Mera Naam Joker Bankrupted Raj Kapoor. Then Russia Bought It.

Raj Kapoor spent six years and mortgaged his house, his wife's jewellery and R.K. Studio to make Mera Naam Joker — a 255-minute film with two intervals that India walked out of in December 1970. It lost roughly ₹80 lakh, ₹56 lakh of it his own. Then the Soviet Union bought the rights, cut it into three films and sold 73.1 million tickets. This is the whole arc: the 1960 circus night, the 200-page six-chapter script, the Soviet troupe and its bears on ice, the five-hour first cut, the awards that came anyway, and the love story with no stars — Bobby — that paid the bill. Chapters: 0:00 73 million Soviet tickets for a flop 0:17 Six years, 4h15, ₹80 lakh lost 0:50 The idea: a clown, a 200-page script, Sangam first 2:00 The shoot: mortgaged studio, 20 Soviet artistes, bears on ice 3:43 Five hours, two intervals, no crowds 4:53 The USSR buys the Joker: three films, 73.1M admissions 5:37 Why it worked there and not here 6:08 Bobby pays the bill Sources: 1. Navhind Times (NT Buzz) — 'Mera Naam Joker, a tragedy turns 50', Ramnath N. Pai Raikar, 17 Dec 2020 — navhindtimes.in 2. India Today — Vir Sanghvi cover story on Raj Kapoor, 15 Nov 1977 (archive) — indiatoday.in 3. Hindustan Times / IANS — 'All our assets were mortgaged to release Mera Naam Joker: Rishi Kapoor', 15 Feb 2018 — hindustantimes.com 4. Wikipedia — Mera Naam Joker; Sangam (1964); Bobby (1973); List of highest-grossing films in the Soviet Union — en.wikipedia.org 5. Kinopoisk — Мое имя Клоун (Soviet admissions per part, via Wikipedia) — kinopoisk.ru 6. Kristin Roth-Ey, Moscow Prime Time (Cornell UP, 2011) — average Soviet ticket price 7. Women on the March, June 1971 — Soviet rights sale ₹15 lakh (via Wikipedia) 8. Times of India — 'Sangam and Mera Naam Joker had two intervals', 23 Feb 2018 — timesofindia.indiatimes.com 9. Bollywood Hungama — 'Five decades of Mera Naam Joker: Epic timelessness' — bollywoodhungama.com 10. Russia Beyond — 'Russian heroine from Mera Naam Joker set to return to Mumbai', 3 Dec 2016 — rbth.com 11. Business Today — Rishi Kapoor's National Award for his first film, 30 Apr 2020 — businesstoday.in 12. DNA India — Rishi Kapoor 2012 interview ('made to pay the debts of Mera Naam Joker'); Prem Chopra on the mortgage — dnaindia.com 13. Firstpost — RK Studio fire, 18 Sep 2017 — firstpost.com 14. TMDB + OMDb APIs — metadata, images, ratings — themoviedb.org · omdbapi.com Data as of 13 Sep 2026; Soviet figures are admissions (tickets sold, USSR, 1972–75); Indian figures are gross unless stated; the ₹80 lakh / ₹56 lakh loss figures are India Today's 1977 reporting; IMDb rating as of 13 Sep 2026. This video uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. The stories behind the movies — how films get made, sold and remembered, explained with data. Subscribe for more. #Bollywood #RajKapoor #MeraNaamJoker