Remembering JOHNNY WALKER on his 96th Birth Anniversary

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Johnny Walker (11 Nov 1920 � 29 July 2003)
He was born as Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi in Indore,the son of a mill worker. Looking after his 15-member family was tough; five of the family died young. Johnny Walker tried his hand at almost everything, including working in the Bombay Electric Supply Transport buses as a conductor. He was posted at the Dadar bus depot but worked on several routes.

Comedians like Noor Mohammad and Charlie were his idols. Johnnysaab had always wanted to be a comedian; he believed it was his God-given duty to make people laugh.
He did his first bit role in the early 1950s and had enacted similar snippets in about 20 films but the real break was given by Guru Dutt in Baazi(1951),his new screen name Johnny Walker was given by Guru Dutt.Thereafter he was doing all the films of Guru Dutt.Films like Taxi Driver(1954) CID,Pyaasa,Madhumati,Naya Daur and Mere Mehboob made him a star.He was sought by the best banners and the best directors and was equal to the task of acting with the best of the stars.
He was offered many films(around 12) as a hero such as JOHNNY WALKER ,Mr Cartoon, These, of course, had comic themes but were embellished with wonderful music and did well at the box office.

His Golden Period was 50s and 60s when he gave memorable and great performances.
He was a natural comedian, his comedy was never crude or vulgar. But, 1970 onwards, comedy began to change. Some of the comedians indulged in lewd gestures and relied on double-entendre.Johnny Walker never tried that type of comedy,In an interview he said that though he acted more than 300 films and the Censor Board never cut even one line of his character.

He was the comedian for whom famous music directors like S D Burman and O P Nayyar tuned some of their most memorable hits. Remember Tael maalish, champee or Yeh hain Bombay meri jaan? His drawing power at the box office was such that Distributors insisted the Producers and Directors to have atleast one song to be done with him.His song sequences in Doordarshan'sChitrahaar or cable television are highly appreciated.

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