Johnny Lever on losing work over the years: ‘Heroes would feel threatened and my scenes would be edited’

In the 1990s, Johnny Lever used to be in at least a dozen films a year. However, in the last few decades, work has significantly slowed down and the veteran actor-comedian is only seen a one or two movies recently. Johnny, who was often seen as the comic relief character in Hindi cinema, spoke about why he’s not acting so much in films anymore. (Also read: When Shah Rukh Khan reached out to a disturbed Johnny Lever, who had to do a comedy scene while father was hospitalised)

Last year, he appeared in the Gujarati comedy Jaysuk Zdpayo and Rohit Shetty’s family entertainer Cirkus, which did not do well at the box office. The veteran comedian is known for his role as the clueless Babulal in the 1993 thriller Baazigar, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Shilpa Shetty. He revealed that he improvised a lot of his scenes back then and that filmmakers used to rely on him to make the comedy scenes more interesting.

In an interview with ETimes, Johnny shared why he doesn’t get much work any more. Firstly, there are fewer comedy films being made, and secondly, the lead actors began feeling threatened by his presence in the films and edited his part in the final cut. He said, “Sometimes, the heroes would feel threatened and my scenes would be edited. They used to watch how the audience would react to my scenes, and feel insecure. They started asking writers to come up with comedy scenes for them, as well. The writers would start distributing comedy scenes. And my roles became smaller and smaller, which is what you’re seeing now. Comedy is gone.”

The veteran actor also went to say that comedy, as a genre, was given more respect when he was active. Although he has worked in over 300 Hindi films, Johnny also returns stand-up comedy occasionally. Before he got his big break in films, he used to perform mimicry in live shows in India and across the world.

Johnny has won the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role twice for Deewana Mastana and Dulhe Raja; he also has 13 nominations. His children, daughter Jamie and son Jessy, have also followed their father into the entertainment industry. The father-daughter duo worked together in the comedy film Housefull 2 (2019).