Mumbai, Nov 13 (PTI) For legendary actor Johnny Walker, fame was just a milestone, never the destination as his priorities in life were to lead a simple and quiet life surrounded by family and friends, says son Nasirr Khan.
Remembering his father in the week of his 100th birth anniversary, Nasirr said his father loved to lead a simple life away from showbiz.
Johnny Walker was born as Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi on November 11, 1926.
"He led an ordinary life despite his achievements. You won't find any controversies or negativity, affairs, ruckus or anything like that. If you look for interviews and information, you will find very little because he was just a private person. If he is still being remembered, it is a great achievement,” Nasirr, who is also an actor, told PTI in an interview.
Walker, who started life as a bus conductor and even sold vegetables and ice-cream before finding his footing in the film industry with Guru Dutt's 1951 film “Baazi”, was a gentle father who ensured that all his children are educated well.
A teetotaler in real life, Johnny Walker was rechristened after a famous whisky brand by Guru Dutt because of his convincing acting as a drunkard.
He gained popularity for his comic roles, and went on to feature in over 300 films. Despite being typecast as a hapless drunkard, he enjoyed a successful career spanning the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Some of his popular films are “Pyaasa”, “Mr. & Mrs. 55”, “CID”, “Aar-Paar”, “Taxi Driver”, “Madhumati”, “Chaudhvin Ka Chand”, “Anand”, “Devdas”, “Pratigya”, and “Raja Jani”, among others. He made his final screen appearance in Kamal Haasan’s “Chachi 420” (1997), playing an inebriated make-up artist.
Nasirr said his father's love for a simple life stemmed from his days of struggle.
"He used to say that when I was poor, I used to work like a donkey, had no time for anything and when I became rich and famous, that time also I was working like a donkey.
"So, what is the difference between being rich and poor? What have I achieved? What did I get? A bigger house, a bank balance, a car but what have I got? I’m still working day and night. So, it was a mix of all these things,” Nasirr said.
Having fulfilled his responsibility of supporting his siblings after their father lost his job, Walker felt he had done enough, Nasirr recalled.
“He is one of the few actors who chose self-exile; others are pushed out of the industry. He would often give the example of Sherpa Tenzing, the first person to climb Mount Everest, and would say, ‘Is he still sitting there? No, he went there and came back’. For him, it was the same thing,” Nasirr added.
Walker was also particular about maintaining a balance between personal and professional life. He was among the first actors to stop working on Sundays so that he could spend time at home, his son said.
Nasirr said weekends were spent at their Powai Lake house, where the family would go fishing, cycling, and host feasts for friends including Guru Dutt, Dilip Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Naushad Ali, actors Waheeda Rehman, Shyama, Rehman, writer Abrar Alvi, and others.
Walker’s daughter Tasneem, who stays in the US, fondly remembered her father. She said her father's wit, simplicity and love for family are some of the qualities that she admires.
“Abba was a very simple person, very quiet at home unlike his onscreen image. Walking around the house or in the garden in kurta-pyjama, talking to the servants, gardener also asking them how their day is doing, that's how down-to-earth Abba was,” she told PTI, adding that she cherishes Walker’s small silver medicine box and the favourite shirt and tie he gifted her two sons.
According to Nasirr, his father brought stardom to comedy even though he started his career at a time when comedians like Noor Mohammad Charlie, Bhagwan Dada and Radha Kishan Mehra were popular.
Walker was among rare comedians on whom songs were picturised like ‘Jahan Kaha Mera Jigar Gaya ji’, ‘Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan’, ‘Sar Jo Tera Chakraye’, ‘Main Bambai Ka Baboo’, and others.
“Earlier, the film was riding only on the hero, the heroine and he is one of the few non-hero actors on whom close to 200 songs have been filmed. Film distributors used to say that they wanted to see my daddy in the film because that is what the public wanted. So, he got the star power of comedy, which wasn't there before,” Nasirr said.
After calling it quits in the 1980s, the comedian returned to acting after a 14-year gap with Kamal Haasan's “Chachi 420”. Nasirr revealed that Haasan visited their home many times to persuade his father but Walker kept refusing until Gulzar convinced him.
“I remember asking dad once, Kamal sir came so many times and you told him no but Gulzar sahab spoke to you once and you said yes to the film. He said, ‘In my entire career, no matter what work I’ve done, ‘Anand’, which was written by Gulzar, remains on the top',” he recalled.
Nasirr, known for his roles in "Baghbaan", "The Lunchbox" and "Wazir", said despite dropping out of school after Class 5, his father was a sharp man, who learnt multiple languages over the years, including English, French, German.
He also revealed that his father lost 60 to 70 per cent of his vision in the left eye at age 15 never but he never let that hamper anything.
“…All his life he could not see with his left eye. Now, if you see the things that he excelled at, like he was really good at playing billiards, which he used to play with Rishi Kapoor, he used his right eye to do the 'nishana'."
Nasirr said when he expressed a desire to become an actor, his father asked him to complete his degree. The other condition that his father put in front of him was to not use the Johnny Walker name to find work.
"My father said 'Don't expect me to call people for work. This industry is strange. They will not give you work but will not say no to your face'. And that's what I did, which is why I don't have any regrets in life because both success and failure belong to me," Nasirr said.
Nasirr said he hopes a docu-series will be made on Walker's life.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)