Johnny Walker; The Gentleman & A Clean Comedian

BDCTV- News Desk
July 29, 2017
“Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi was actually the actor’s name on his passport. But the world knew him as Johnny Walker.” (Ajay Mankotia)

Today is a 14th death anniversory of the legend himself. A man of talents, words, and a fun. See him with his words in the India-Pakistan cricket dinner held in USA in 1989.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgr0I2MqO9o
The man who got the solo songs in his films with the super stars of Hindi cinema. Mohammad Rafi gave him his voice and songs made history in between the many many super starts around him.
Who can forget ‘Naya Daur (1957)’ gave him an unforgatable song… “Main Bambai Ka Babu, Naam Mera Anjaana, English Dhun Mein Gaoon, Main Hindustani Gaana”.

Discovered by Balraj Sahni when a bus conductor in Bombay (yes, that is what happened), and christened by Guru Dutt as Johny Walker after the scotch, he acted in some great movies between 1951 to 1983 like Baazi, Pyaasa, Aar Paar, Chori Chori, CID, and Madhumati to name a few , and won two Filmfare awards for his performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJiohcg-gKo
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPN1z5At8_o
Johnny Walker never looked back after that. He acted in around 300 films till his last role in Kamal Haasan’s Chachi 420 (1997).
A rare interview of him by a London journalist Bhartendu Vimal.

He loves Bollywood and Bombay/Mumbai. A land of his struggle, the land of his success and the land he loved most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlAOZrst6fQ
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His big fan and friend Madan Diljit Ved produced a movie “Johnny Walker” in 1957 and directed. The films with the stars cast of Shyama, Raj Mehra, Dulari, Baldev Mehta and Shamlal. You can see the movie here…. Which shows of his fame, in Bollywood in 50’s, to 80’s.
 

His last movie is Chachi 420 with Kamal Hassan.  Interestingly, more than 40 years earlier he had acted in Shrimati 420 (1956). His busiest period was that of the 1950s and 1960s. There was even a film named after him – Johnny Walker (1957) – in which he acted opposite Shyama. What’s more, two songs carried his name – “Sach Kehta Hai Johnny Walker” from Aji Bas Shukriya (1958) sung on screen by Geeta Bali (playback Asha Bhosle); and “Main Hoon Mr Johnny” from Mai Baap (1957) sung on screen by Johnny Walker to Minoo Mumtaz (playback Mohammed Rafi). Unlike today’s comedians, he actually played key characters in all his movies usually as the hero’s best friend or the local troublemaker, and some of his songs are quite popular till today. 
We salute the man who made us laugh. My major complaint against Hindi cinema has been that we’ve never given comedy the sort of status it’s received in the West.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJVryEYSIL8
Though there has been the occasional classic comedy but as a genre it seems to have been largely neglected. Making people laugh is I think more difficult than making them cry: and Johnny Walker is one of the very few who’ve excelled at the art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUWzkXu1ibA
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrjsuDewHO8
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hROVywDRGkg