Happy Birthday to one and only Johnny Lever

Johnny Lever (born 14 August 1957 as John Rao) is one of the most noted comedians in Hindi cinema. Lever is one of the first stand-up comedians in India. Lever has received thirteen Filmfare Awards nominations in Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role, and has won the award twice, for his works in Deewana Mastana (1997), and Dulhe Raja (1998).
He began his career in 1984, and has acted in more than three hundred Bollywood films.
 During a Hindustan Lever Ltd company function, he mimicked a few senior officers, and from that day on, the workers said he was not John Rao (his real name), he was Johny Lever. When he later joined the industry, he decided to keep the name. He started to perform stand-up comedy in musical shows (orchestras), Tabassum Hit Parade and after earning fame, joined the group of Kalyanji-Anandji, a legendary music direction duo. Even before joining Hindustan Lever, he was giving stage performances. Because of his growing absenteeisms and since he was earning well from stage shows, he quit HLL in the year 1981. He did a lot of shows and world tours with them, one of his first big tours being with Amitabh Bachchan in 1982. At one of his shows, actor Sunil Dutt noticed his talent and potential and offered him his first movie Dard Ka Rishta.
During this period, he also did a few commercials for Kachua chhap incense, directed by Shekhar Kapur. In 1986, he performed in a charity show called "Hope 86", in front of members of the Hindi film industry as a filler and was loved by the audience. His talent was recognised, which resulted in producer Gul Anand offering him the film Jalwa alongside Naseeruddin Shah.
Lever got his first break in Tum Par Hum Qurban in which the famous TV and stage compère and yesteryears actress Baby Tabassum launched her son Hoshang Govil as the leading man, and then with the film Dard Ka Rishta, thanks to Tabassum and the late Sunil Dutt. Since then, he has acted in more than 350 films including films like Tezaab, Kasam, Khatarnak and Kishen Kanhaiya. After Dard Ka Rishta, he was seen in Jalwa with Naseeruddin Shah.

His first major success came with Baazigar, and after that he was seen in movies as a supporting actor/comedian. Despite being busy with his movie roles, he continued to do live shows. One of his most memorable live performances was an impersonation of Michael Jackson at the 1999 Filmfare Awards. His most acclaimed performance was the character of "Babulal" in the film, Baazigar, directed by Abbas-Mustan. He is also remembered for some of his other famous characters, like "Chotta Chattri", "Aslam Bhai", etc. His performance in the film, Judaai and his dialogue in the movie, Abba Dabba Jabba are also notable.
Lever has also appeared on Zee TV in his own show, Johny Aala Re.  In 2007, he appeared as a judge on the stand-up reality show Comedy Circus. He is the president of Cine And T.V. Artist Association (CINTAA), which has its own television show called Superstars ka Jalwa on Star Plus. He is also the president of MAAM (Mimicry Artist Association Mumbai), and has done thousands of live shows all over the world.