About Johnny Lever

Rao John Prakash “Johny Lever” Janumala was raised in Mumbai’s King’s Circle after being born on August 14, 1957, in Kanigiri, Andhra Pradesh (Dharavi). He is a Bollywood comedian and actor from India. Telugu is his mother tongue. 

Lever attended Andhra Telugu School until the seventh grade but was unable to continue his education due to financial difficulties in his family. He then made the decision to drop out of school and begin working various odd jobs, like selling pens on the streets of Bombay (modern-day Mumbai) while imitating Bollywood stars and dancing to their songs.

He also spent his formative years at Yakutpura, an ancient city in Hyderabad, where he developed his distinct comedic acting style. He became passionate about imitation and stand-up comedy and decided to pursue it after being influenced by comedians like Dinesh Hingoo and Nerella Venumadhav on stage and comedians like Johnny Walker, Kishore Kumar, and Mehmood in movies. 

He contacted his master Pratap Jani and mimicry performer Ram Kumar to ask for advice and assistance regarding impersonation, who assisted him and taught him the fundamentals of mimicking. Together with his father, Lever worked at the Hindustan Lever factory in Mumbai. He delighted his industrial coworkers while he worked by mimicking Elvis Presley.

He was requested to perform and display his talent at one of the events held at his firm. His professional reputation was established by his performance, which won him the respect of his coworkers and factory officers. He began playing in musical productions (orchestras), and after becoming well-known, he joined the famed music direction team Kalyanji-Anandji. With them, he performed in several concerts and went on several major international tours, one of which was in 1982 with Amitabh Bachchan. 

He couldn’t find time because he was so popular right away at orchestras, so Johnny Fever, another comic, took over. But Fever’s success was short-lived since Raju Srivastav arrived in Mumbai at the same time and began filling in the blanks.

Actor Sunil Dutt saw him at one of his performances and offered him the lead role in his debut film, Dard Ka Rishta. He gained even more notoriety in the 1980s when he recorded the mimicry/comedy album Hansee Ke Hungame, which was a worldwide success in India. 

He also appeared in a few advertisements for Shekhar Kapoor’s Kachua chhap incense around this time. He appeared as a filler in a charity performance named “Hope 86” in front of the entire Hindi film industry in 1986, and the audience adored him. Producer Gul Anand offered him a role in the movie Jalwa with Naseeruddin Shah after realizing his talent.

Many other comedians have credited him as an inspiration because he is regarded as a prominent Indian comedian. In the Best Comedian category of the Filmfare Awards, he has gotten 13 nominations and twice taken home the prize.

Johnny Lever’s Early life and Personal life 

Early life

Lever was born on August 14, 1957, in Prakasam, Andhra Pradesh, to a Telugu Christian family. His father spent six years as a laborer before working as an operator in the Hindustan Unilever plant. Lever was raised in Mumbai’s Dharavi neighborhood’s King’s Circle. He speaks English, Hindi, Marathi, and Tulu fluently in addition to his native Telugu language. He is the oldest member of a family that includes two brothers and three sisters (including his younger brother Jimmy Moses).

Lever completed his high school English studies at Andhra Education Society through the seventh grade because his family’s financial situation prevented him from continuing his education. He decided to drop out of school as a result and began working odd jobs, like selling pens on the streets of Mumbai while imitating some well-known Hindi cinema stars of the era and dancing to their songs. He also spent his formative years at Yakutpura, an ancient city in Hyderabad, where he honed his distinctive comedic acting technique.

He imitated a few top officers at a Hindustan Unilever business event, and ever since then, the staff has referred to him as Johnny Lever. Later, when he entered the movie business, he selected the screen name Johnny Lever.

Personal life 

Jamie and Jessy, his two children from his 1984 marriage to Sujatha Lever, were born. Jimmy Moses, his younger brother, is also a comedian and mimicry performer.

Lever identifies as a Christian. Lever responded, “It was God’s will,” when asked about his transformation. I had always been a devout person, but something happened that changed everything. A throat tumor was discovered in my son. I asked God for assistance since I was powerless. I stopped making movies and devoted my entire time to praying for him. When he was taken for a test ten days later, the physicians were shocked to see that the cancer had disappeared. For me, it was the start of a new life.

Johnny lever Career 

Stand up career

He began to perform stand-up comedy in musical productions (orchestras), Tabassum Hit Parade, and after becoming well-known, he joined the group of music directing combo Kalyanji-Anandji. Lever is recognised as the father of stand-up comedy in India and one of the first performers of the genre. He began performing on stage even before he joined Hindustan Unilever (HUL). He left HUL in 1981 due to his increasing absences from work and the fact that he was making a good living performing on stage.

With them, he performed in several concerts and went on several major international tours, one of which was in 1982 with Amitabh Bachchan. Actor Sunil Dutt saw him at one of his performances and offered him the lead role in his debut film, Dard Ka Rishta.

Hasi Ke Hangame, a comedy cassette he made, helped him get recognition in households thanks to its audio format. He also appeared in a few advertisements for Shekhar Kapur’s Kachua chhap incense around this time. He appeared as a filler in the 1986 charity show Hope 86 in front of actors from the Hindi cinema industry.

Film Career

1980 

According to Baby Tabassum and the late Sunil Dutt, Lever received his first break in the movie Tum Par Hum Qurban, which saw the famed TV hostess and stage actress Baby Tabassum introduce her son Hoshang Govil as the starring man. Since then, he has appeared in more than 350 movies, including Kishen Kanhaiya, Tezaab, Kasam, and Khatarnak. After Dard Ka Rishta, he co starred with Naseeruddin Shah in Jalwa, Hero Hiralal.

1990

Following his first significant breakthrough with Baazigar, he appeared in films as a supporting actor and comedian. He continued to do live acts despite his busy schedule with movie appearances. At the 1999 Filmfare Awards, he impersonated Michael Jackson in one of his most famous live performances. His most well-known role was as “Babulal” in the Abbas-Mustan-directed movie Baazigar.

2010

He appeared in the Tulu film Rang as well. Anbirkku Alavillai, his debut Tamil feature film, was released in 2011. He appeared in the Kannada movie Gaara as well.

Television Career

In 1993, Lever made his acting debut as Johnny Utolandand in an episode of the sitcom Zabaan Sambhalke. Lever also had his own show, Johny Aala Re, on Zee TV. He made a judge appearance on the comedy reality series Comedy Circus in 2007. Lever became Commissioner Googol Chatterjee in Partners in 2017.

He has performed thousands of live performances all around the world and is the head of the Mumbai-based Mimicry Artist Association.

Johnny lever Awards and achievements

1. 1997 Star Screen Award winner for best comic
2. The 1998 Filmfare Best Comedian Award
3. Zee cine award for 2002’s top humorous actor

Johnny Lever Net Worth

His net worth is thought to be somewhere around 30 million US dollars, which is equal to 245 crores in Indian rupees. His primary sources of money are motion pictures and live performances.

House: In Lokhandwala, Andheri West, Mumbai, he resides in a luxurious 3BHK apartment. He also has a lovely villa in addition to a couple additional homes in Bombay.

Johny Lever’s hobbies and automobile collection:

• Audi Q7: One Indian Rupee
• 43.21 lacs for the Honda Accord
• 27 Lac Toyota Fortuner

His interests include imitation, music, movies, and charitable work. He is an outspoken proponent of charity. He made his Bollywood debut by giving a performance at “Hope 86,” a charity gala, in front of the “Crème de la crème.”

On losing jobs over time, johnny Lever says: “My scenes would be edited because heroes would feel intimidated,”

Johnny Lever, a seasoned performer and comic, explained why he is no longer frequently seen in movies. He admitted that his comedic parts in the films would make insecure performers feel threatened and they would request to do comedy instead.

Johnny Lever used to appear in at least 12 movies a year in the 1990s. Nonetheless, the legendary actor-output comedian’s has substantially decreased over the past few decades, and he has only lately been seen in one or two films. Johnny, who was frequently viewed as the comedic relief figure in Hindi films, talked about why he isn’t appearing in as many movies these days.

He made appearances in the commercially unsuccessful Cirkus and the Gujarati comedy Jaysukh Zapayo directed by Rohit Shetty last year. The renowned comedian is well known for his 1993 thriller Baazigar co-starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Shilpa Shetty in which he played the naive Babulal. He admitted that he used to improvise a lot of his sequences and that directors used to count on him to spice up the comedic scenes.

Johnny explained why he doesn’t get as much work these days in an interview with ETimes. First of all, fewer comedies are being produced, and secondly, the lead performers started to feel threatened by his presence in the movies, so they deleted his scene from the finished product. 

He explained, “My sequences would occasionally be trimmed because the heroes would feel threatened. They used to feel nervous when they observed how the audience would respond to my scenes. They began requesting comedic scenes from authors for them as well. 

The comedic scenes would start to circulate from the authors. And as a result, the roles I played got smaller and smaller, as you can see. The humor is gone.

The seasoned actor continued by saying that during his career, humor as a genre received more attention. Despite appearing in more than 300 Hindi movies, Johnny occasionally performs stand-up comedy. He used to perform impersonations in live performances in India and other countries before getting his big break in the film industry.

Johnny has had 13 nominations and has received two Filmfare Awards for Best Performance in a Comedy Role (Deewana Mastana and Dulhe Raja). His son Jessy and daughter Jamie have also followed their father into the entertainment business. The father-daughter team participated in the comedy Housefull 2 together (2019)

Conclusion 

In this blog, you can get information about Johnny Lever’s net worth, biography, wife, age, height, and weight, among other information. An Indian actor named Johnny Lever has a net worth of $30 million, or Rs. 245 crores. In Bollywood, Johny Lever is referred to as the king of comedy. John Rao is his true name. 

He is a singer, actor, comedian, impersonator investor, and philanthropist. He was born in Andhra Pradesh on August 14, 1957. Currently, Johnny Lever resides in Mumbai with his wife and children.

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