Johnny Lever compares comedy in Bollywood films today to ‘fast food’, addresses Cirkus failure

He said, “Earlier it used to be situational comedy. It used to be that people would look forward to the comic character coming and say, ‘dekh abhi mazaa aayega‘ (look, it’s going to be fun now), and it used to be funny. Today also people do comedy and there are funny bits in films but I think log itni mehnat nahi karte (people don’t put enough efforts) in writing the comedy bits, all the pressure and burden is on the artiste. How much can an artiste do? If something is written well, it supports the artiste and we feel like ‘aur bhi acchha karte hai (we could do it even better)’. That I definitely miss. We should have more writers who write well, people who have a good knowledge about humour that way comedy scenes can come out better and comedy artistes can do better comedy as well, people want comedy. Like how Farhad (Samji) bhai is, hence you’ll see that we have given Pop Kaun our best too.”

Johnny then compared comedy in today’s films as “fast food”, that while it is there, he doesn’t enjoy it. “Comedy today has become like fast food, earlier it was like serving a thali, it would consist of everything — drama, comedy, like dal, rice, vegetables… and people would look forward to it. Today it is like you pick food at a take out and you’re done — main chicken loonga, rice loonga, ho gaya (I’ll take chicken, rice and I’m done). In fact now it has become like picking up super quick burger and cold drink. So while comedy is there (in films and other content) but there is something amiss, just how there’s something about fast food that I don’t enjoy,” said the 65-year-old-actor.

Johnny, who is otherwise quite choosy with the kind of work he picks or the filmmakers he works with, he says it was time for him to experiment and that’s why he chose to do a web series on OTT.

He says, “For a long time I wanted to do something in the OTT space, but I wasn’t getting many offers, also I couldn’t find anything that was good enough. Hence, when Farhad (Samji) bhai approached me, I went ahead with it blindly, I have worked with him, he is a fantastic comedy writer, his comic timing is great too. It was fun working on Pop Kaun, and God willing people will like watching the show, because we thoroughly enjoyed working on it.”

Johnny was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus with Ranveer Singh leading the film. The film that was billed as a super comedy flopped at the box office. When asked if the film’s poor performance upsets him, he agrees.

“Every director thinks well about the film, nobody wants to do nuksaan (loss) because they invest heavily in the film — money wise and emotion wise, a lot of effort goes into making films. In Cirkus, humne jo kaam ki, humaare part ki taarif huiee (whatever work we did was appreciated). There could have been some mistakes in the film in totality that people didn’t like because of which the film didn’t work. What can one do about that? But one thing I know for sure that people look forward to comedy, people expect it from us all the time.”

Johnny has acted in more than 300 films in his career spanning over three decades. Johnny says the love of the audience keeps him going. “People started recognising me after Love 86 (1986). People started asking ‘woh Madrasi kaun tha? (Who was that Madrasi?)’ After people saw my work in Love 86, I was offered Jalwa (1987). Everybody wanted to cast ‘the Madrasi’ that’s how I got Jalwa. And what happened after Jalwa is history. It felt like main sabke dilon mein chhaa gaya tha (I won people’s heart). And then came Hum Log and people really loved me in it. So when people met me after that everybody would invite me at their homes. People would spot me from a distance, run to me and say, ‘mere ghar aao na’ (please visit my home), people started feeling I was a part of their home. Aisa raha hai pyar logon ka (That’s the kind of love people have showered on me) and I am thankful for that love.”