Johnny Lever’s entry into a small cottage near Kacheguda, decorated with shamianas complemented by the instrumentals in the background, is quite impromptu for someone of his stature. It takes time to recognise that one among the common men gracing the venue was indeed the laughter therapist himself. He’s nearing 60, but the streaks of child-like madness still residing in him, makes the man look relatively many years younger.
In a career spanning three decades and more, starting symbolically from Yeh Rishta Na Tootay Tute to Rohit Shetty’s Dilwale releasing this December, there’s no denial that his working rate has slowed down in recent times. This is from the extent of having nearly 10 releases a month to that of managing the same number in the last ten years. “There’s a phase for everyone, where actors need to slow down and reinvent themselves. My golden phase was unarguably between the 90s and 2000s. It’s a happier fact that I still have some armour left in my bag. And there were a few duties to fulfil as a son, husband and a father too,” the Ongole-born, Mumbai resident remarks.
This phase helped him be more selective about his work. “Gone are those days where I would probably work for five shifts in a day. In fact, my children during the mini-break I took between the years were staring at me, like I was a stranger in the house. I had to tell them, kya ghoor rahe ho, main tera baap hoon ,” he jokes about it.
Being a mimicry artiste and heading one such association in Mumbai even now, his comfort with accents, be it the slang from Delhi, Punjabi, Tamil or Telugu, he makes it look easy. “My life has been a map generally. As I reached every state border during my early days as a stand up comedian, the lingual mixes really excited me. Whatever I’ve learnt is not from anyone’s inspiration, but the observation of people, their culture and several other factors.”
From being a satisfied actor, he’s now a proud father to Jamie Lever, his daughter, who forayed into cinema with Kapil Sharma-starrer Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon . Unable to hide his infectious smile while he talks about it, Johnny says, “We actually sent her to London for graduation and make a career for herself. She even did an internship. Just when everything seemed to be going the academic way, there she sees a stand-up comedy act in her city and calls up to say, mujhe stand-up karna hai . A lot of pestering didn’t work. She was so sure of herself.” In fact, it was Abbas-Mustan who called him for her dates.
As the topic shifts from his children to his struggles during his earlier days, he opens up to say, “I was always taught to do something to have an identity of your own. Forget your mom, dad, brother, sister, regardless of how big they are, you should do things by yourself, even if it means selling clothes or pens on the road. Most of the waiters that I’ve known in my earlier days own Udipi hotels in Mumbai now.”
Meanwhile, he has noticed drastic changes in Hyderabad from his on and off visits in the city. “I remember the day in 1974, where I was in a tonga to reach a place. When I see the skyscrapers and the development that has come up, the city never fails to astonish me. The Hyderabadi slang is something people, irrespective of the backgrounds they come from, have adapted with fondness,” he avers with a glee.
All this while, as scripts keep staring at his desk, is he tempted to give suggestions on how to make certain sequences better? “ Dena padta hai actually . Mostly in the industry, it’s mostly some X’s son or a relative from a star family who says I want to direct and want you in my cast and brings a shoddy script. I need to explain them how things work here.”
Giving one such example, he cites the gradual route to Rohit Shetty’s success, with whom he has worked in three films Golmaal 3 , All The Best and now Shahrukh Khan’s Dilwale . “I had seen him being the silent guy on the sets of Kohram , Raju Chacha as an AD. Look at him now. He knows nothing but work. All he does is to call me and I’ll be there to drop at his film sets,” he shares thing or two on his equation with the self-made filmmaker.
There have been a lot of senior actors in Hindi cinema who took to direction. Can we expect the bug to bite him soon? “Acting is something I’ve nurtured over time. Par direction koi maamooli cheez nahi hai ki, aao, khatam karke jao . For once, you need to know your limitations,” he states. But, character roles, at least? “I did a couple of them in the past and all they have conveyed is nahi baba nahin ,” he in his trademark comic style signs off.
