Akshay Kumar's Third Big Budget Film of 2012, JOKER, Has A Trailer

Only a few weeks after premiering his last film, Rowdy Rathore, Akshay Kumar is beginning promotion of his third big budget film of 2012 with Shirish Kunder's Joker. Kumar brings back his love interest from Rowdy Rathore, Sonakshi Sinha, for this latest film, and it looks like it might be fun, though incredibly stupid. 

Rowdy Rathore was Akshay's second huge box office hit of 2012 after Housefull 2, both of which crossed the coveted 100 crore rupees (about $20 million) milestone this year. Joker looks like it could very well do the same, big spectacle often attracts audiences in India, though it isn't always a guarantee.

If you don't speak Hindi, which I don't, there's not much to glean from the trailer, but Wikipedia has a plausible sounding synopsis:

In 1947 when the maps of India and Pakistan were being drawn, an oversight ensured that the village of Paglapur didn't find a place in either country. The village had the distinction of housing the largest mental asylum in the region and in the melee that ensued during partition, the asylum inmates broke loose, drove away the villagers and established their own republic in Paglapur. And that's how it stayed for the next 60 years! While the world outside changed, Paglapur remained isolated, with no electricity, television or sanity! Now, decades after the world forgot this village, a NASA scientist of Indian origin, Raj/Agasthya and his wife, Manali find themselves on the road to Paglapur. Raj is working on a top secret project for creating a device to communicate with aliens. So why is he in a village whose colourful inhabitants include a man who speaks in gibberish, another who thinks he is a lamp post and everyone else who think Mahatma Gandhi is still around, fighting for independence?

Pagla is one of the words in Hindi I do know, and it means "crazy" or "mad", which makes Paglapur a perfect name for this imaginary village kingdom. I'm still not entirely sure what it's all about, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I thought Sinha was really flat in Rowdy Rathore, but maybe they gave her more to do in this one. Kunder seems more interested in playing up Kumar's comedic talents here, as well. 

I'm cautiously interested, but not optimistic. India is still in the discovery phase of homegrown sci-fi, with 2010's Robot being the exception, rather than the rule. If you don't count Ra.One (more of a superhero film than sci-fi), the last major Bollywood sci-fi hit was 2003's Koi Mil Gaya. We'll see when Joker opens worldwide on August 31st.