When Raj Kapoor mortgaged all his assets including RK Studios for Mera Naam Joker, family experienced ‘severe problems’ when the film bombed

Rishi Kapoor got a grand launch as a romantic lead in the film industry, with his father Raj Kapoor‘s Bob. The film was a big success, and turned Rishi into an overnight sensation. But while success might have come easily to him, as he once admitted in an interview, a lot was riding on Bob.
This was because his father’s previous film, the passion project Mera Naam Joker, took six long years to make, and was a critical and commercial disaster upon release. It has since gained a cult following, particularly in Russia, but when it came out, it nearly ruined the Kapoor family’s RK Studios.

In a 2018 press interaction, Rishi Kapoor spoke about the pressure that Raj Kapoor was feeling after the failure of Mera Naam Joker, but he still didn’t compromise on his vision. He said, “When Mera Naam Joker was about to release, our studio and all our assets were mortgaged to release that film, and the picture bombed. We were in severe problems. Then he made a film called Bob with new boy and new girl, which was a huge risk after seeing the failure of Mera Naam Joker. But it became super hit and that is when his friends and my uncles insed that he should to buy a house.”
Decades after its release, Rishi Kapoor said that he is still surprised how many people adore Mera Naam Joker. He continued, “It’s been 30 years since my father passed away and recently I visited Georgia and Tashkent. Today’s generation has the exposure to watch any of Khans’ films. They can see Kareena Kapoor or Karisma Kapoor or Ranbir Kapoor’s movies also, but why the youth still reacts to Raj Kapoor’s films? I also don’t understand that.”

Mera Naam Joker featured Rishi in a supporting role as a teen, but it was Bob that gave him the launchpad to success. He told journal Barkha Dutt that it also turned him into an arrogant brat, which he later regretted. Rishi Kapoor died in 2020 after a two-year battle with cancer. The iconic RK Studios was shut down and sold off some years ago, and Rishi had told Mumbai Mirror back then, “For a while, we did juggle with the idea of renovating the place with state-of-the-art technology. However, in reality it isn’t always possible for a phoenix to rise from the ashes. We Kapoors are very emotional lot but then…”