John Prakash Rao “Johny Lever”” Janumala was born on August 14, 1957 in Kanigiri, Andhra Pradesh and was brought up in Mumbai’s King’s Circle area (Dharavi). He is an Indian actor and comedian in Bollywood. His mother tongue is Telugu. Lever studied in Andhra Telugu School till the seventh grade but couldn’t study further because of financial problems in his family, after which he decided to leave school and started working different kinds of odd jobs, such as selling pens on the streets of Bombay (present-day Mumbai) by imitating Bollywood stars and dancing to the songs of Bollywood stars. He also spent his early ages in Yakutpura a old city of Hyderabad from where he learnt the unique style of comedy acting. He developed a passion for mimicry and stand-up comedy, inspired by watching comedians like Johnny Walker, Kishore Kumar and Mehmood in films and mimicry artists like Dinesh Hingoo and Nerella Venumadhav on stage, and thus decided to be a mimicry artist. To seek guidance and help regarding mimicry, he met his mentor Pratap Jani and mimicry artist Ram Kumar, who helped him and taught him the basics of mimicry. Lever was also employed in Hindustan Lever’s factory in Mumbai with his father. While working, he entertained his co-workers in the factory by imitating Elvis Presley. At one of the functions at his factory he was asked to perform and show his talent. His popularity among coworkers and officers of the factory by his performance earned him his professional name. He started to perform in musical shows (orchestras) and after earning fame, joined the group of Kalyanji-Anandji, a legendary music direction duo. He did a lot of shows and world tours with them, one of his first big tours being with Amitabh Bachchan in 1982. Since he became an instant hit at orchestras and was unable to find time, another comedian who substituted him by the name of Johnny Fever evolved. However, Fever’s fame was short-lived as Raju Srivastav came to Mumbai during the same time and started filling gaps of Lever at orchestras. During this period he learned a lot from his mentor Kalyanji, who was described by Lever as a great philosopher and a very humorous person. At one of his shows, actor Sunil Dutt noticed his talent and potential and offered him his first movie Dard Ka Rishta. In the 1980s, he released his mimicry/comedy album, Hansee Ke Hungame, which became a hit in India and the world over, increasing his fame to another level. During this time period, he also did few commercials for Kachua chhap incense, directed by Shekhar Kapoor. In 1986, he performed in a charity show called “”Hope 86″”, in front of the whole Hindi film industry as a filler and was loved by audience. His talent was recognized, which resulted in producer Gul Anand offering him a film called Jalwa with Naseeruddin Shah. He is considered an influential Indian comedian who has been cited as inspiration by many other comics. He has received 13 Filmfare Awards nominations in Best Comedian Category, and has won the award twice.”
Johny Lever
Movies
36 China Town
Multi-millionaire Sonia Chang; owner of 36 China Town hotel and Hollywood Casino is found dead with the evidences pointing towards people from different walks of life who may have a motive to murder her. But there is a major draw-back involved in this case as the police does not have…
Karan Arjun
When Durga’s husband speaks out against the tyrannical rule of his brother Durjan Singh, he is mercilessly killed, leaving Durga and her sons Karan and Arjun destitute. Durga brings up her sons without informing them of their heritage or their father’s death, but they soon find out when the elder…
Dilwale
Raj is a Mafia member. One day he meets a girl (Meera) while being chased by his rival gang and falls in love with her. Later he finds out that this girl is the daughter of the leader of his rival gang. Yet their love story continues until he was…
Khatta Meetha (2010)
Satara-based petty road-works contractor, Sachin Tichkule, faces challenges when the Satara Municipal Corporation puts a hold on his payment. He decides to sue them, while his extended family deal with the crisis of a recently-collapsed bridge resulting in 65 deaths. If matters were not bad enough, the new Municipal Commissioner…
Khiladi
Four friends Raj Malhotra, Boney, Neelam Chaudhary and Sheetal decide to play a practical joke on Sheetal’s dad Kailash Nath. They telephone Kailash and tell him that his daughter has been kidnapped and demand a ransom of Rs. 200,000. Things seem to go according to plan until the police headed…
Dulha Mil Gaya
After the passing of his Trinidad-based father, Surajratan Dhanraj, Casanova Tej is asked by the family solicitor, Vakil, to confirm with his father’s last will – namely that he should not only marry Punjab-based Samarpreet Kapoor but must remain married to her for a period of 10 years – or…
Koyla
Mute Shankar slogs day and night to satisfy the lust of wealthy businessman Raja Saab who has underworld contact. Raja Saab would like to marry the young and street-wise, Gauri, however Gauri would like to see a picture of her would be husband but is instead shown Shankar’s picture, she…
All The Best
Veer Kapoor lives in a palatial bungalow in Goa along with his girlfriend, Vidya, and a maid, Mary. Every month he gets an allowance of Rs. 1 Lakh from his NRI brother, Dharam, which he uses to fund his band, as well as the dilapidated Gym of his friends, Prem…
Lajja
Vaidehi (Manisha Koirala) gets married to Raghuvir (Jackie Shroff), an NRI. Suffering the agony of an unhappy marriage, she decides to run away from him when she learns that she is pregnant and he wants to take the child away from her. In her pursuit for freedom, she meets Mythili…
Enemmy
A thriller set against the backdrop of the battle between the Mumbai mafia and cops, Enemmy is the story of four intrepid CID officers (Suniel Shetty, Kay Kay Menon, Johny Lever and Mahaakshay), who are entrusted with the responsibility of cracking down on the underworld and cleaning up the city…
Andaaz
Young Raj Malhotra lives with his elder brother, Rohit; his bhabi, Kiran, and a niece. After an accident fractures his leg, he is unable to walk for some time. Due to psychological reasons, he cannot walk even after the fracture heals. When the Malhotras move to Dehra Dun, Raj befriends…
Fiza
Six years after Fiza’s (Karisma Kapoor) brother, Aman (played by Hrithik Roshan) disappears during the 1993 Mumbai riots, she goes to look for him. When she does find him, to her horror she sees that he has joined a terrorist group. She forces him to come home, and he finally…
Anjaam
Vijay Agnihotri is a wealthy, spoilt man who lives with his mother in the city of Mumbai. His mother has allowed him everything and more than that he wants. One day due to a mishap Vijay meets an air-hostess named Shivani Chopra, he immediately falls head over heels in love…
Machine
Ransh and Sarah are passionate about car race and study in the same college they become friends due to their same passion.Aditya who belongs to the same friend circle as Sarah loves her secretly. The day Aditya is about to propose her he is killed in a car accident in…
Songs
Asoka
Prince Ashoke (Shahrukh Khan), heir to the Magadha Kingdom, bowing to his mother’s (Shilpa Mehta) demand forsakes his princely status and goes to live in the wild for awhile. There he meets and falls in love with Kaurwaki (Kareena Kapoor). He identifies himself as Pawan, not wanting to disclose his…
Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon
The Kapoor family are very rich Indians who live in India and want their youngest daughter,Sanjana,to get married to an American-Indian businessman named Prem. Prem is welcomed, and after a few misunderstandings, both Sanjana and Prem fall in love with each other. Then chaos descends upon the Kapoor family when…
Golmaal
Gopal,Laxman1,Madhav,Lucky and Laxman 2 live in orphanage of Jamnadas.One day they come across an abandoned baby outside the orphanage and name her Kushi.Gopal and Mahadav don’t get well with each other and often have fights.Gopal leaves the orphanage with Laxman 1 and Madhav also leaves with Lucky and Laxman 2.Years…
Golmaal 3
After selling fake examination papers to students, Madhav, Laxman and Lucky re-locate to Goa, and not only get into verbal & physical confrontations with Gopal and Laxman, but also ruin their jet-ski and fire-works businesses. Feeling threatened, they inform their bus-driver father, Pritam, who goes to confront Gopal and Laxman,…
Baazigar
Ajay Sharma, a poor but ambitious young man, is a devoted son to his widowed, traumatized, amnesiac mother. He leaves home for Bombay to fulfill the mysterious promise he made to himself and his mother. On the way he gets a lift from his childhood friend Vicky Malhotra. Ajay has…
Haqeeqat
After her husband, Ravi Malhotra, is killed, Sudha lives the life of a widow with her brother, Mahesh, and Bhabhi, Kamini. A new tenant, Ajay, comes to her rescue when she is molested by Bhavani’s brother, both fall in love and decide to get married. Kamini initially opposes this match,…
Housefull 2
Housefull 2 is about the Kapoor family. Daboo and Chintu are brothers but they hate each other to the core. Even their wives and daughters hate each other. Both claim that they are going to get the richest son-in-law for their daughter. Aakhri Pasta, a marriage counselor, brings Jai’s parents…
Indian
Circa the British rule in India, a man named Senapathy decides to rebel against the British in a violent way, learns a rare martial art that enables him to kill with his bare hands, and travels to Singapore, joins the Indian Liberation Army formed by renowned Subhash Chandra Bose, is…
Chaalbaaz
Anju and Manju, identical twins separated at birth. Born to a rich father who is paralyzed, they are brought up in totally contrasting environments. Anju is brought up in her father’s house, bullied by her stepmother and her brother. She is constantly terrorized by them and often ends up in…
Chaar Din Ki Chandni
Chalte Chalte
Raj and Priya come from two different strata of society. While Raj owns a small-time transport business and belongs to the economically middle class section of society, Priya belongs to the affluent class and is on the road to becoming a famous fashion designer. But when a chance encounter brings…
Chamatkar
Sunder Srivastava (Shah Rukh Khan) is a young graduate whose main ambition in life is to fulfil his father’s dream of starting a school on his half-acre property in his village, though he has no funds to execute his plans. Sunder’s childhood friend Prem, a seasoned conman who operates in…
Yamla Pagla Deewana
The film begins in Canada, travels to Banaras and eventually makes its way to Punjab. The Father Son duo of Dharam Singh and Gajodhar Singh (Dharmendra and Bobby Deol) are the biggest conmen in Banaras. Their happy go lucky existence involves drinking and pulling off hilarious cons on unsuspecting people.…
Yamla Pagla Deewana 2
The trio of Dharam (Dharmendra), Paramveer (Sunny Deol) and Gajodhar (Bobby Deol) reunite, this time in the UK. Paramveer opens up the “Yamla Pagla Deewana” club and crosses paths with with Dharam and Gajodhar after their last visit to Canada. Now, the trio are back with double the fun, double…
Yeh Dil Aashiqana
Yeh Dil Ashiqana is the story of Karan and Pooja who are studying in the same college in Poona. They meet and fall in love and their romance progresses without any problems until one day while going to her brother’s house in Mumbai. Pooja’s flight is hijacked by a group…
Jalwa
Kapil’s (Naseeruddin Shah) younger brother, Buntu, dies as a result of a drug overdose. Kapil vows to put an end to drugs and drug-dealers, by joining the police. He soon attains the title of C.I.D. Inspector. He lives in Bombay with his mom (Kamini Kaushal). One day his friend from…
Coolie No. 1
After being insulted by a rich businessman named Rosario, pandit Jai Kishen teaches him a lesson by getting his daughter married to Raju – a Coolie posing as a millionaire. Soon Raju’s real identity is exposed but he cooks up a story of having a filthy rich twin. One lie…
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani
When a businessman is assassinated on the eve of election, the assassin, Mohan Joshi is arrested on the spot, but manages to escape days later during the media coverage. He is portrayed to be a terrorist and the country is thrown into an uproar. Many die who had no connection…
Judwaa 2
Two brothers (twins) born to an honest businessman are separated at birth when their father exposes a smuggling racket and a king pin. One of the brothers is thought to be dead but only resurfaces stronger after living life on the streets to reunite with his family over a sequence…
Songs
Prem Kaa Game
Prem Sahni lives a wealthy lifestyle in ‘Rathod Residency’ along with his wife, Sheetal; daughter, Pinky; runs Fountain Head Publications; is forgetful about birthdays, anniversaries, and would like to be a bachelor again. He wish does come partly true when Sheetal and Pinky decide to travel to Mysore to attend…
Fun Facts
He used to work for Hindustan Lever Limited (a Unilever company). That's where the "Lever"" in his name comes from.
One of India's top comic actors
Father of Jessy Lever
He was born in Andhra Pradesh