Last Updated: January 11, 2023, 12:39 IST
Johnny Lever was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus, which didn’t quite manage to impress the audience and ended up tanking at the box office.
Johnny mentioned that a few directors in the industry still value comedy in their films.
Bollywood actor and comedian Johnny Lever has expressed his disappointment with the state of the film industry and revealed why his roles are getting “smaller and smaller”. In a recent interview, he shared that some heroes used to get insecure and demand they be given comic scenes as well, to avoid a scenario where Johnny Lever would walk away with all the adoration. In a chat with ETimes, the veteran actor cited the example of his breakthrough film, Baazigar, which also featured Shah Rukh Khan.
He said that the film didn’t have a writer, which meant that he had to perform a lot of impromptu comedy scenes and 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,” expressed the seasoned comedian.
The comedian also said, “Comedy was given respect back in the day. These days, there’s hardly any comedy in movies.” Recalling those days, Johnny Lever shared that he used to get a positive response from the audience and his scenes would become the highlight of the movie.
During the interview, Johnny Lever even revealed, “Sometimes, the heroes would feel threatened and my scenes would be edited. 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 mentioned that a few directors in the industry still value comedy in their films, but otherwise lead actors are also trying their hand at comedy these days. He concluded by saying that there is currently no requirement for comic relief from actors like him in the entertainment industry.
Johnny Lever was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus, which didn’t quite manage to impress the audience and ended up tanking at the box office.
