MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN | UNTITLED (MERA NAAM JOKER)

Private Russian Collection

Sotheby's New York, 18 March 2015, lot 1303

Mera Naam Joker is a 1970s Bollywood movie starring Raj Kapoor. The film is based on a clown who must entertain his audience even at the cost of his own distresses.

Raj Kapoor, known to be the greatest showman of Indian cinema, gained international fame, most importantly in the then Soviet Union. In the Nehruvian 1950s, Communist Russia and Japan were considered role models for a new nation in the making, with the former being a particular favorite of Nehru. Prevailing geopolitical circumstances often define the fate of cultural imports which is how Bollywood first made it to Russia. The fan reception Kapoor received in the Soviet at the time has often been compared to the frenzy surrounding the Beatles a decade later.

This film was partly made with the participation of Russian actors and was even shot partially in Moscow. Instead of being released as a single film, the film was released in three parts. Each of the parts were box office successes in the history of both Indian and Soviet cinema at the time. The current lot originally came from a Private Russian collector who had been gifted this by Husain himself.