Johnny Lever

Some Lesser Known Facts about Johnny Lever

• Does Johnny Lever Smoke?: No (Quit in 2002)

• Does Johnny Lever Drink Alcohol?: No (Quit in 2002)

• He was born in a Telugu Christian family.

• His father was an operator in Hindustan Lever Ltd.

• He was brought up in Dharavi (Mumbai’s King’s Circle area).

• Due to adverse financial conditions, he couldn’t study further after 7th grade and started doing odd jobs, like selling pens on the streets of Bombay (now Mumbai) by doing mimicry of Bollywood stars.

• He learned the unique style of comedy in Yakutpura (an old city of Hyderabad).

• Once, he mimicked a few senior officers during a function at the Hindustan Lever Ltd company, and from that day on, he was named Johnny Lever.

  

• He started performing stand-up comedy in orchestras and joined the group of Kalyanji-Anandji.

• He also worked at Hindustan Lever Ltd. However, he quit the company in 1981, since he was earning well from stage performances.

• He did world tours along with Kalyanji-Anandji.

• At one of his shows, veteran actor Sunil Dutt noticed his talent and offered him his first major break in the film- Dard Ka Rishta.

• He also did a commercial for Kachua Chhap, directed by Shekhar Kapoor.

• He became famous after his performance in the 1993 Bollywood film- Baazigar.

  

• He also worked in a Tulu film- Rang in 2014.

  

• He practices Christianity and when asked about his devotion towards Christianity, he replied- “It was God’s will. I had always been a religious person, but one incident changed my life. My son was diagnosed with cancer. I was helpless and turned to God for help. I stopped working in films and spent all my time praying for him. Ten days later, when he was taken for a test, the doctors were surprised because cancer had vanished. It was the beginning of a new life for me.”

• So far, he has acted in more than 350 films.

• He is also considered the pioneer of stand-up comedy in India. 

• He has received 13 Filmfare Award Nominations in the category of Best Performance in a Comic Role and has won twice for his performances in Deewana Mastana (1997) and Dulhe Raja (1998).