Veteran comedian Johny Lever, who has entertained audiences for over four decades, has consciously cut down on work in recent years. The reason, he says, is simple - the lack of strong, inspiring roles. He adds, “When someone approaches me with a project, I try to see how I can take it a notch higher with my inputs. If the role is not interesting, why would I ruin my name by taking up mediocre work?”

Last seen in Housefull 5, Lever observes that comedy is no longer being explored as actively in films. “Comedy ko kum kar diya hai, uss pe zyada kaam nahi ho raha hai. Comedy has become tough now. People are watching so much comedy in form of reels, toh aur zyada innovative comedy laaye kahan se? Also, we lack good comedy writers. Usually, we improvise and enhance a scene. Legends like Mehmood saab and Kishore Kumar saab would add their own inputs to the script. Hum bhi kar sakte hai par kuch likha toh ho. Kuch dhaancha ho toh uske upar kuch sajayenge na. Dhaancha hi nahi hai toh kya karenge? For now, there’s only action in abundance in movies.”

Lever also feels there are very few actors today who are keen on doing comedy or who can pull it off well. He says, “The thing is, today everybody is trained in a film school. But the theoretical knowledge doesn’t work on set. When you are on a set, you have to follow the cues of the team members. We used to observe people and imbibe their body language for our characters. Character ko andar se jeete the. Pagalon ki tarah kaam karte the.”

One of the reasons he supported daughter Jamie Lever’s decision to step into comedy is that he didn’t receive that kind of support from his own father. “Whenever I used to go on stage, my dad used to come to hit me. Once, I was performing at the Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai, and he came with a rubber pipe and began chasing me. The audience thought it was part of the act and started laughing and clapping,” he says.

On a nostalgic note, he says, “One day, I shot an ad and was paid Rs 25,000. It was equivalent to dad’s provident fund, which he received after 25 years of service. That is when he realized, ‘Mera beta kuch kar raha hai.’ He would be surprised to see people clap and laugh while watching me perform. It opened his eyes. Comedy mera shauk tha aur phir woh mera profession ban gaya.”

Lever, known for his roles in Baazigar, Koi… Mil Gaya, Awara Paagal Deewana and Golmaal Again, beams with pride when speaking about his daughter Jamie, who has carved a niche in the comedy space. “See, that’s in her blood. Initially, she didn’t plan to pursue comedy as a career. She was studying in London. One day she visited a café with her friends where a live stand-up performance was on and she suddenly told her friends, ‘Yeh barabar nahi kar raha. He is missing all the punches.’ She pointed out where the comedian could have added the punches. Then she called her mom up and said she aspires to do stand-up. Pehle mujhe gussa aa gaya, because I’ve been through struggles, and I was worried that my daughter would also have to go through that,” he says.

Johny Lever, 56, may have dropped out of school in Class VII, but has learnt his lessons from life. He is a giver with a lot of humility, but also a lot of self-respect. Ahead of his upcoming film Entertainment, he talks to Bombay Times about Kalyanji-Anandji's role in his life, the miracle that changed him and why he sees comedy in death. Excerpts:

How did you come into films?
We lived in a hut in Dharavi and I was therefore brought up amongst a lot of dance and festivity. My father used to work as an operator in one of the HLL plants. I was the oldest child and had to quit studying post class VII due to my family's financial condition and started working from the age of 12. I also worked six years as a labourer in HLL. Watching one of my neighbours, I got into mimicry at 14, not realising that it would become my profession. I started doing small shows till I met Kalyanji-Anandji bhai and started doing shows abroad with them, till in 1980 when I got my first role in a film, through them. It took me 12 years to convince my producers that I could work and act when I got my first big break in 1992 with Baazigar.

You were a part of practically every film in the 90s, but then disappeared in the last decade. Was that by design?
In 2000, my son Jesse was only ten when he was detected with tumour. That changed my life and it made me forget comedy. I did only one film and one show in one year. It was not financially enough, but I did not want to reduce the money as it lowers your position as an artiste. I felt without my asking, God had brought me to this position, now it is my job to maintain it. I sacrificed both roles and shows, but did not agree to work for less. Even when I started, people would say 'Jo aa raha hai woh aane do.' But I did not accept that even then and never accepted a film less than Rs 30 lakhs back even in 2000. I thought I have the talent, I am hard-working and even if I don't get roles I know how to dig a well and take out water. So I can always go back to doing that. It was never about the ego or being arrogant, but it was always about my self respect and khuddari. Buttering people is not my cup of tea. I have always depended only on myself and khuda ka diya hua talent. I have never said a bye to the producer after finishing my work. I have worked for many small producers for even free, but have never discounted myself for a producer, who can pay, but will emotionally misuse you by saying the standard lines, 'Beta, tumhari bhabhi badi tareef kar rahi thi' even though the bhabhi may not recognise you if she saw you or 'Ghar ki baat hai. Tumhari picture hai.' I can understand if he is making a mandir or masjid, but he is making a film, so why haggle for a few lakhs? I ask for money as I contribute to the film. Also, while you could be happy eating your sookhi rotis at home, you need to live well for the sake of your fans. I eat two rotis, but I have two-and-a-half, so why should I feel scared? What can happen worse to worst? I will have to sell my house at a good price and go and live in Mira Road, will take a smaller house and will run a small shop. There can be nothing worse than that. But I will not go and ask for work. Also, I am first a stage person, so I know that I can always fall back on that and do my own shows.

Did you ever get scared?
By 2000, even though I had made so much money, I had nothing left. I would give away whatever money that I would make, to people who needed it, including my poor struggling friends from Dharavi. A giver is always strong. But once, I got scared and shaken up. It was 2005 and I was standing in my house and I said to God, 'Main dar gaya. Main kyun dar gaya?' And God spoke to me and said, 'Kneel down and pray'. I knelt down and prayed, 'God have mercy on me'. And I felt something passing through my body. I felt light, stood up and asked myself, 'Main kyun dar gaya tha? I read in the Bible that fear is satan (Bhay shaitan hai). Can you believe it? I had invested some money in a property which appreciated two to three times, so I got back more money than I had given away.

Do you have friends in the industry?
In our film industry, there are no dosts, but there is dosti. Means that you enjoy working with people and also make promises to each other that let's meet and feel free to call me even in the middle of the night, but when you actually call them, they will tell you, 'I told you to call in the middle of the night, why did you call during daytime'. Anandji bhai is the only person who is very close to me and is not just my well-wisher, but also my family and Godfather.

Who do you love the most in the world?
My wife Sujata. She has sacrificed a lot for me. I used to travel throughout the world, but she would look after my parents, my children, my relatives, my siblings and never gave even one opportunity to any of them to complain even once to me. She has played such a big role that actually, I should have played for my family. She has done so much for me. What can I give her in comparison? The only thing I can do is love her. She is very responsible and is not affected by the fact that her husband is a celebrity with so much fame. She has never misbehaved with anybody ever. In fact, my sisters give her a bouquet every Mother's Day, as they tell her that while our mother has given birth to us, you have brought us up. What she likes most about me is that she finds me very bhola and straight and she likes the fact that I am unaware of my success and am childlike and natural.

You spoke about your son Jesse falling sick in 2000. What happened?
He had a cyst in his neck and I took him to Nanavati Hospital. The doctors told me, 'We cannot take out the tumour, as it is entangled within the nerves and it can lead to him becoming paralysed or he will stop talking or can have other major problems and it can recur.' The tumour kept growing, but we could not touch it.
So Jesse would hide his tumour with his collar and go to school and I told my son, 'I am just your father. I am not God. Whatever a father can do, I have done. If you want to shop or travel around the world, I can make you do that, but I cannot treat you.' We went to US where we visited a church and the priest saw him and said, 'What is this? You are in God's house. Take him to the hospital and God is going to heal him.' So I decided to have him checked. We were referred to Dr Jatin Shah in New Jersey, who had treated Nargisji too. This was 2002. He agreed to operate him, but my wife was not allowing for the operation as we have only one son. She had secretly also gone and shown his horoscope and they had told her that he would not survive. She had hidden that from me till then. I told her, 'You are mad. We are Christians and it is written in the Bible that we should not believe in all these things'. I told her, 'Jesus is alive. He died and went above and then returned and now he will come back again.' So she said, 'Okay , if he is alive, ask him and if he says, then only we will have him operated. Talk to him.' My wife was standing there and in front of her, I knelt down and prayed. And I could hear God telling me, 'Go and do the operation, I am with you'. We got him operated and he became absolutely okay and three hours later, he was playing his video game. My life changed after that. I left drinking, smoking and saying all bad things and became completely spiritual. I went into the service of God and he became my strength.

You make people laugh. Do you cry?
From the age of 12, I have always thought of what I can do for others. Like my father, I too have always been large-hearted. I would take people lying on the ground unattended and admit them into a hospital. My poverty taught me a lot. If someone dies, I cannot cry as I have seen so much hardship and death. I went to shoot even the day my dad had died. Death is reality. Even when I was nobody and was doing small shows, my sister had died and I had forgotten that I had a show in the evening at 4pm. Everybody was crying when I quietly picked up my clothes, changed inside the taxi and went for my show. I actually see comedy in death. I am the opposite of other people. I don't cry when I am upset. I cry when I am happy.