Celebrate Johnny Lever's comedic genius on his 69th birthday on August 14 by revisiting his most iconic and side-splitting on-screen phone call scenes that highlight his unparalleled talent for mimicry, slapstick, and animated expressions.
Key Points
- Johnny Lever's unique comedic style, characterised by animated expressions, mimicry, and slapstick, has made him a beloved figure in Bollywood.
- His role as Babulal in Baazigar provided much-needed comic relief with his forgetful butler antics and garbled messages.
- From Baadshah to Awaara Paagal Deewana, Lever's phone call gags, often involving mistaken identities or absurd situations, have become iconic and even spawned modern-day memes.
Johnny Lever wears humour like second skin.
Armed with a jolly face, comical expressions and a voice so animated, it's like witnessing a single man cartoon network.
Even five minutes of the funny man in absolutely unwatchable fare is certain to provide comic relief. From his hilarious moments of mimicry to his slapstick abandon, his underrated legacy is a gift that keeps on giving.
Give him any prop and he'll make a performance out of it. Say, Johnny Lever on the phone is a genre by itself. And so on his 69th birthday on August 14, Sukanya Verma celebrates his funniest phone calls on screen.
Baazigar
As Babulal, the forgetful butler of the Chopra household, Johnny Lever's comedy of confusion provides much needed mirth amidst a series of murders. Whether he is discussing the impact of inflation on aloo pyaaz prices with a befuddled Dinesh Hingoo or conveying a hilariously garbled message -- Anarkali ka phone tha ice cream khana zaroori hai -- to a dumbfounded Kajol, Johny Lever's brand of bungling is one of its kind.
Dulhe Raja
'Tu meri taraf hai ya iski taraf hai?' wonders Kader Khan every single time his Man Friday Johnny Lever champions his hotelier boss's dhaba running rival Govinda's cause.
The extent of this support shows when he masquerades as Chi Chi's politician Mausaji perched on a telephone pole, no less, exercising his influence to stop the dhaba from getting road rolled by his wealthy foes.
Johnny's entertaining Bihari accent and hilarious line of offence leaves the elite eating a humble pie and audience laughing away to glory.
Main Khiladi Tu Anari
When you're expecting your girlfriend on the line and a gangster calls instead. Johnny Lever's opening scene in Main Khiladi Tu Anari as the badgered secretary of a bratty Bollywood superstar appeasing Goga Kapoor's underworld bully Damodar in his trademark trembling tone is all kinds of amusing.
Baadshah
Baadshah's super silly tone finds a perfect match in Johnny Lever's droll antics and quips. Like the bit where he fibs to Shah Rukh Khan's titular detective about a overseas client -- 'Mr Baadshah, America Ke President Mr Bill Clinton Ke Secretary Clint Eastwood Ka Phone Hai' -- seeking help over a stolen atom bomb while promising a remuneration of 'dus lakh dollars' in return.
Mr Clinton actually calls our man in the climax requesting Baadshah's intervention in a certain 'Monica' matter offering a whopping 1 million dollars in exchange. Farfetched was never this funny.
Hadh Kar Di Aapne
Govinda plays the hero and all his relatives in Hadh Kar Di Aapne, his partner-in-comedy Johnny Lever delivers one gag after another in a goofy double role as a father-son lawyer jodi.
'Main haddi nahi hadda hoon. Apne daddy ka dadda hoon. Divorce karane ka adda hoon,' he shrieks some gobbledygook to which Govinda retorts 'Ek bahut bada khadda hai tu. Ek phata hua chaddha hai tu.'
'Mukhde ka antara ban gaya? Gadda, khadda, chaddha, fadda, very good yaar, aapko meri tarah sher-o-shayari ka shauq hai?'
Even poetic banter of puerile standards turns gold when Lever Bhai is involved.
Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain
What's better than Sunny Deol? Sunny Goel of course!
Offering the sole respite from Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain's over-the-top, hammy melodrama, Johnny Lever's flashily dressed photo studio guy dodges the debt he owes Satish Kaushik by pretending to be everything from an automated voice response to members of the Deol parivar -- Sunny, Dharam -- to a phony foreign accent on the phone.
Showcasing an array of accents and mimicry prowess to the hilt, Johnny Lever is a hoot.
Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai
When Johnny Lever's deep slumber is interrupted by his best friend's grumpy grandfather's call in the wee hours of a London morning, the outcome can only be a riot.
Fumbling with excuses and lies, our guy sheepishly covers up for his party animal pal Salman Khan like there's no tomorrow: 'Ji, woh davaa khane gaya hai. Nahi hawa khane gaya hai. Aaj kal woh bahut jog-ta hai.'
Awaara Paagal Deewana
The Whole Nine Yards ripoff wouldn't deliver a bang for its buck without Johnny Lever's wacky thug Chhota Chhatri.
Amazing how he succeeds at being both believable and absurd in one breath. Like the time he's trying to call the cops from the Brooklyn bridge and the poor connection prompts Paresh Rawal to give him a coin as though it's a phone booth. His instant response is to search some chillar in his pocket until the stupidity hits him and he scowls,
'Aye kya coin daal? Mobile phone hai yeh, hut!'
No wonder it's part of modern-day memes.
Not to mention the broken English that follows describing the scenario to the phirang policemen, where he introduces himself as 'Little Umbrella' generates big laughs.
Hum Toh Mohhabat Karega
Few will remember this Bobby Deol-Karisma Kapoor thriller directed by Kundan Shah. Nevertheless, you need to look up Johnny Lever doing what Johnny Lever does best with a cell phone in hand.
As a Udipi eatery owner out on a date in pink co-ords, his oblivious air while talking to a panicky Bobby posing next to a television set, featuring him in a threatening pose as a wanted murderer, and the sheer expression of shock it changes into on learning why everyone in the restaurant is looking at him in terror makes for scenes of classic comedy.
Anari No 1
Give him five minutes and he'll still steal the show.
Pretty much what happens in Anari No 1 as well where he shows up as Daler Petiwala and parodies the Punjabi pop sensation with characteristic wit and zip.
Just the sight of his musically tinged telephonic yak-yak with Satish Kaushik about arranging four petis to release Govinda from captivity and the bhangra the twain engage in when the deed is done is sure to make one roll on the floor laughing.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
