I S Johar

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One of Bollywood’s most qualified actor Films and studies do not go hand in hand. A look down the qualifications of Bollywood actors and actresses reveal that a majority of them are less qualified but there are few exceptions like Balraj Sahni, who was M.A. in English and B.A in Hindi. Likewise I.S. Johar held a Master’s degree in Economics and Politics. This was the reason; though I.S. Johar played a comedian (due to his funny personality) he was an intellectual and only did intellectual comedy which was marked by his canny dialogues and hilarious punches! Besides Master’s degree in Economics and Politics, I.S. Johar also acquired a L.L.B degree though he never practiced law as a profession and his first interest was writing drama, dialogue and screenplay writing. He was also interested in acting and direction and would do stage plays in schools and colleges.

I.S. Johar was a romanticist at heart I.S. Johar was romanticist at heart and it’s reported he married over five times in his life span of 64 years! His first love affair began in his college days when he met the stunningly beautiful Ramma Bains who was doing graduation in music. The two jelled well and after three years of dating the two married in 1943. Johar was 23 and Ramma was just 16. It may note Ramma Bains is India’s first Fitness Expert and has the reputation of imparting training to Bollywood’s top actresses like Dimple Kapadia, Rekha, Zeenat Aman etc. She also did movies Nastik and Ajeeb Ladki etc. In the 50’s the two divorced. Later in the mid 60’s Johar got involved with another beautiful actress Sonia Sahni, better remembered as the ultra modern mother of Rishi Kapoor in Raj Kapoor’s film Bobby. Johar had introduced Sonia Sahni in his film Johar Mehmood In Goa. The film was hit and later she did many films with Johar. Not much is available about Johar’s other three marriages

Accidental landing in Mumbai Actually I.S. Johar was happily settled in Lahore and was married with two children. Once in 1947 he came to Patiala with his family to attend a marriage of a close friend. Suddenly Indo-Pak partition was declared which lead to communal violence. Forced to stay in India, he shifted to Jalandhar for few years but when he could not find suitable job he moved to Delhi but here again lady luck did not supported him. Hence he came to Mumbai and tried his luck in Bollywood. After a long struggle filmmaker Roop K Shorey was impressed by his writing skill and selected his story and made a film Ek Thi Ladki (1949) staring Meena Shorey and Bharat Bhushan. I.S. Johar also had a comedian role in the film. The film was box office hit. The song Laara Lappa Laara Lappa Layi Rakhda… became a national anthem and the heroine Meena Shorey won the title of Larra Lappa Girl. India’s first actor to be nominated in British Academy Award In the 50’s when I.S. Johar was not being offered good sensible roles in Bollywood he decided to explore Hollywood and was greeted happily for his brilliance sense of comedy and his strong hold in writing witty dialogues. He did important cameo roles in Hollywood films like Harry Black (1958), North West Frontier (1959), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Death on the Nile (1978), besides acting in Maya Sunderi (1967), a US TV series. What may come as a surprise to readers is that I.S. Johar was not doing insignificant roles for survival in Hollywood but instead he was doing crucial roles and was also rewarded for his good work. He was nominated for for the prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work on Harry Black (1958). I.S. Johar is India’s First Filmmaker to introduce trend of sequels Today making sequels has becoming very common because it is the safest bet to mint money at the box office thanks to the ‘Successful’ title of first hit. But readers would be surprised to know that the filmmaker who first introduced the trend of sequel was I.S. Johar. What may further stun readers is that I.S. Johar was so popular in the 60’s and the 70’s that his Name – ‘Johar’ was enough to draw film buffs to theatre. His first installment in the series was Johar-Mehmood in Goa (1965) which was produced –directed and acted by Johar. The hit song from the film Ye do deewaane dil ke chale hain dekho mil ke … Chale hain chale hain…Chale hain sasuraal…. was a huge craze in the 60’s. After the success of Johar Mehmood In Goa, I.S. Johar decided to make a sequel minus Mehmood. Hence he made Johar in Kashmir (1966) and Main Wohi Hoon (1966) but both films did not make much impact. Hence to reap the success of Johar Mehmood In Goa, I.S. Johar made Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong (1971) and once again the movie was a hit!