As all of us know very well, Johnny Lever is that Indian film actor who has always made all of us laugh whenever he acted.
We can consider him as the first standup comedian of the industry and one of the most talented comic actors. To see his successful career span, you may think that he is one of those Bollywood stars who are lucky to be in a world of dreams and were born with a silver spoon, you still don’t know the worst period of his life.
Not many people know that Johnny Lever was born to a middle class, Telugu Christian family, and his real name was John Rao. Basically, he had to face a lot of struggles before proving that ‘dreams do come true’.
He was the eldest kid in his family consisting of three sisters and two brothers.
He studied till the seventh grade but couldn’t continue it further due to some financial crisis in his family, as he was eldest among all his siblings he had to compromise with his life. He decided to leave school and started doing some jobs, such as selling pens on the streets of Mumbai and dancing to the songs of Bollywood stars. He spent some time in Yakutpura, an old city of Hyderabad where he learned the unique style of comedy acting.
Johnny also worked at Hindustan Lever Ltd. plant from where he picked up his last name ‘Lever’.
He worked there for 6 years. He used to mimic in front of his colleagues, and from there, the workers started calling him Johnny Lever instead of his real name, John Rao. Later, when he joined Bollywood, he began performing orchestras. He then joined the group of Kalyanji-Anandji, the great music director duo.
It was during the 1980s where his life transformed drastically. This was actually the stage that took this amazing man to another level of recognition. During this period, he got his first break in ‘Tum Par Hum Qurban’, and since then, he has acted in more than 350 movies to create a milestone in the field of comedy.
He has proven that it is not the looks or money but the hard work that matters. Despite all the hurdles of his journey, he never left smiling and kept working on a purpose that makes everyone laugh.
Today, he has a huge fan following that includes many big celebrities. He has achieved many awards for his contribution to Indian Cinema. Hence, we must say that he is not only the one to be entertained from, but also to learn life lessons from. He has proved that success can have humble beginnings, but not everyone needs to be born with a silver spoon to be successful.
