‎"May 15 is birthday of great comedian Johny Walker"

Johnny Walker (15 May 1923 – 29 July 2003) is the screen name of an Indian movie comedian, who acted in over 300 movies. He was born as Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi in Indore, India, the son of a mill worker. The family shifted to Mumbai (Bombay) when the textile mill his father worked in closed. Looking after his 15-member family was tough for the father; five of the family members died young. Badruddin tried his hand at different occupations, including the job of a conductor in Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (B.E.S.T) buses. (He was posted mainly at Dadar bus depot, but worked on several routes.)

While issuing tickets as a B.E.S.T. bus conductor, Badruddin used to entertain passengers aboard with some antics. These antics caught the attention of actor and script-writer Balraj Sahni in 1950 while he was once traveling in a B.E.S.T. bus on which Badruddin, then 27, was working as a conductor. Sahni was penning at that time the script for the movie, Baazi (1951), and introduced Badruddin to Guru Dutt as a candidate for the role of a comedian. Badruddin's screen test consisted of acting as a drunk, and he did it so well that Guru Dutt gave him the screen name, "Johnny Walker", after the famous Scotch whisky brand. (Walker was always a teetotaler.) Later Johnny was cast as the hero in a movie, Johnny-Walker (1957), which was named after himself.

He had a close friendship with Guru Dutt, who would often change scripts of his movies to accommodate a role for Johnny. The death of Guru Dutt in 1964 deeply impacted him.
During the 1970s through the '90s, he had a few small roles in movies. His role in Anand showed that he could excel in a serious role even if it was for only a few minutes. His last performance was in actor/director Kamal Hasan's Chachi 420 in 1998; he had performed at the request of poet/director/writer Gulzar who had scripted that movie.

He also starred in the Punjabi film Teri meri ek jindari.
Johnny Walker married Noor (short for Noorjehan), a sister of Shakila (actress). He met Noor in 1955 on the sets of Guru Dutt's film Mr. and Mrs. 55.

he died on 29th july 2003....



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