February 16, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): The king of comedy Johnny Lever has come a long way now, but even though the memories of his struggling days are still fresh in his mind. This funny man walks down the memory lane and shares some of his precious memories with us and says, “As I come from middle class family, I didn’t have enough back up so the decision for leaving government job was really tough.”

He continues, “During those days, I was part of Kalyanji-Anandji group but wasn’t getting work on regular basis, this was a major concern. Hence I couldn’t take the risk of leaving my job. So, I thought for an alternative source of income, but didn’t how to go about the same.”

“Meanwhile, one of my friends gave me a musical instrument about which I didn’t know much so I handed it over to Kalyanji-Anandji. Thereafter, they decided to use that instrument in their composition and started paying me around 1000-1500 per month for the instrument at that time I thought god listened to my prayers. I started saving that money and it also gave me a boost to leave my job, which I eventually did, but as expected my family members were not happy.”

He goes on to add, “However, I was prepared for their wrath. Then I got Shekhar Kapoor’s Mosquito ad and that was the first time ever I saw Rs. 25,000. I gave the money to my dad thus even my family members started believing in me. Further, my cassette got released and people noticed my work and after that I started getting more work.”

Great people never ever forget their bad times so as Johnny Lever. Well! You can catch the ace comedian in family entertainer flick “Prem Kaa Game’ which also stars Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Tara Sharma, Malaika Arora, and Madhuri Bhattacharya.

-Anil A Kanojia/ Sampurn Wire