The film stars Raj Kapoor as the eponymous character, with his son Rishi Kapoor making his screen debut playing his younger version, along with Simi Garewal, Kseniya Ryabinkina, Padmini, Manoj Kumar and Dharmendra in supporting roles.
The plot focuses on a clown who must make his audience laugh at the cost of his sorrows; three women who shaped his life view his final performance.
After Sangam became a blockbuster, Mera Naam Joker was highly anticipated as it had been under production for six years and heavily publicized, loosely based on Kapoor's own life.
Unlike the rest of the students at his private Christian school, Raju is poor and lives nearby with his mother and no one else.
When a new teacher, Mary, comes to his school, she encourages Raju to find his ambitions and makes him more confident in himself.
Despite rejecting this question in the past, she finally answers that he had worked as a clown in the circus, and died in an accident there.
When Mary and the rest of the students leave for the holidays, Raju gifts her a toy clown that his father had.
When Mary comes back, Raju is startled to discover that she has a male companion named David with her.
After Raju comes to the couple's house, David starts becoming suspicious, and confronts him after he leaves but still waits outside.
When Raju drops his books in shock, David discovers a paper with her picture and a heart surrounding it.
Raju's mother becomes sick, and he starts dressing as a clown to sell various concoctions on the roadside to pay the school fees.
When a group of Russian entertainers come to Gemini Circus to promote Indo-Soviet relations, he sneaks in with them and pockets their first payment.
After the actual ringmaster comes in, Sher Singh saves Raju and brings him to a meeting to explain himself.
Raju's mother realizes through the poster that wrapped the toy that he is a clown once again, and rushes to the circus on the day of the Russians' last performance.
Seeing him on the trapeze, Raju's mother dies, being reminded of the accident which caused her husband's death.
The dog belongs to the orphan Meenu, and the three partner up to make a roadside show and live together in an abandoned house.
After a while, he comes back to her home, where she explains that her real name is Meena and that she had to act like a boy to survive on her own in the city, which she had fled to, to achieve her dream of becoming a famous actress.
Despite his pity for the qawwali venue owner who had already pre-paid them, Meena makes them move into theatre acting.
All music is composed by Shankar–JaikishanMera Naam Joker was under production for six years, with Raj Kapoor investing much of his own personal fortune.
In the song "Kehta Hai Joker Saara Zamana", a child looks up reels of Shree 420 (1955) in a bioscope, which featured Nargis, who formed an iconic pair with Raj Kapoor in the 40s and 50s.
Upon release in India, Mera Naam Joker was widely derided for its length and the experimental nature of its plot, and it became a critical and commercial failure.
The crux of the film is how Raju, the joker, entertains people and makes them laugh, but to do so hides many hardships and heartbreaks of his own life.