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Johnny Lever is one of those artists who defined comedy in Hindi Cinema during the 80s and 90s. The best part of the actor was he never played a character differently. He just played himself on-screen, and the audience would erupt in laughter. In one of his interviews, the actor confessed that Bollywood stars started getting so insecure of him that they started editing his roles.
Johnny was born on August 14, 1957 and the actor turns 67 this year. While he has always been in the news for his body of work, it was once that he grabbed the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
In 1998, headlines screamed about the comic superstar sentenced to imprisonment after he disrespected the National Anthem at a private event in Dubai. Johnny Lever cracked a sarcastic joke on India’s National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana, which did not go down well with the public. The next thing anyone knew was that an FIR had been filed against the actor, and he was jailed for 7 days!
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However, after Johnny publicly apologized for the mislanded joke, his punishment was reduced to 1 day, and he walked free the very next day. Later, in an interview, the actor explained what he actually said that was meant to be a joke, but he miscalculated, and the joke landed disastrously.
Talking to Rediff, the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai actor said, “My critics felt I was fooling around with the national anthem, and I was very hurt by this. They don’t know how patriotic I am.” He explained, “I remember when they used to play Jana Gana Mana in the theatres, people used to leave the theatre. Jhadoo maarne wale Jhadoo maar rahe hain, aur ‘Jaye he, jay he’ kar rahe hai (The sweepers would be sweeping and sing, ‘Jaye he, jaye he).‘ I pointed out this. But it was a bad time for me, and I was blamed.”
The actor further proved his innocence and patriotism, saying, “I still strongly feel that they must play the national anthem in theatres. When I go abroad to shoot, even in African countries, they play their national anthem. So, why don’t we play it? Every Indian loves his country, doesn’t he?”
Apart from this one misunderstanding, Johnny Lever has never ever been embroiled in any controversy ever. The actor has maintained a clean body of work and a cleaner image in the industry.
For more such throwbacks, stay tuned to Koimoi.
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