Johnny Lever claims 'insecure' actors chopped his scenes
- By Web Desk -
- Jan 11, 2023
The veteran comic actor Johnny Lever claimed he lost work over the time due to the ‘insecure’ heroes of the films.
Johnny Lever is one of the most acclaimed comedians in Bollywood with over 300 films to his credit. The actor used to be a top choice to play any and every humorous character during the 90s and 2000s and would easily give out 10-15 films a year.
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However, this number of projects started to decline over the time and now the veteran is merely a part of 1-2 films a year or not even that.
In his recent conversation with an Indian media outlet, Lever spilt the reason behind this shift and also blamed the ‘insecure’ lead actors of the film for the same.
“I turn down work because the writing is bad these days,” he got honest.
The actor explained, “You speak of Baazigar… That film had no writer, it was just me. I came up with all the punches. Those were good days, we used to work hard. But these days, we don’t have [comedy] writers.”
“It’s like, ‘Johnny bhai will handle it’. That’s not how it works. We need a blueprint first,” he said.
The ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ actor further added, “Comedy was given respect back in the day. These days, there’s hardly any comedy in movies.”
“Back in the day, I used to get such a positive response, my scenes would become the highlight of the movie. Sometimes, the heroes would feel threatened and my scenes would be edited,” he shared.
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“They used to watch how the audience would react to my scenes and feel insecure. They started asking writers to come up with comedy scenes for them, as well. The writers would start distributing comedy scenes. And my roles became smaller and smaller, which is what you’re seeing now. Comedy is gone,” he concluded.
The actor however appreciated filmmakers like Rohit Shetty who still value the comic relief element in their films.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Johnny Lever was part of two films last year, a Gujrati-language title ‘Jaysuk Zdpayo’, as well as Shetty’s period-comedy ‘Cirkus’, a critical and commercial disappointment, and one of the biggest financial disasters of Bollywood.