Johnny Walker is remembered for making generations of Hindi film audiences laugh, but behind that familiar comic persona was a childhood shaped by poverty, constant relocation and an extraordinary determination to survive. The legendary actor, whose real name was Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi, began working when he was barely 12 or 13.His son, actor Nasirr Khan, recently opened up about those lesser-known chapters of his father’s life in a conversation with Vickey Lalwani. From selling ice cream and fruits to working at a bicycle shop, Walker took on several odd jobs before eventually becoming a BEST bus conductor. Even getting that job required him to find a way around a serious eyesight problem.
He knew the eye test could stop him from getting the job
Walker had severely impaired vision in his left eye after an incident during his teenage years. According to Nasirr, the problem began when his father was around 14 or 15.“When he was around 14 or 15, he developed a problem with his left eye. The doctor gave him some eye drops and asked him to come back after 10 or 15 days. When he went back, the doctor wasn’t there; there was only a compounder. The compounder accidentally put ear drops in Daddy’s eye,” Nasirr recalled.
The mistake reportedly caused permanent damage
“As a result, he lost vision in his left eye. He could not see properly from that eye for the rest of his life. He could see only about 30 to 40 per cent with his left eye, and his vision deteriorated further as he grew older,” he said.Yet, when an opportunity to become a BEST conductor came his way, Walker refused to let the eyesight issue end his chances.“When he went for the conductor’s job, someone told him there would be a physical test. He knew that he would fail the eye test. So, on the day of the physical examination, he arrived at 8 am and memorised the entire eye chart before his test. He memorised it and then passed the physical,” Nasirr said.
Childhood meant finding the next way to earn
Long before the eye test, however, Walker had already learnt what it meant to earn a living.His family’s financial troubles began after his father, who worked as a mill manager, lost his job. The family moved from one place to another in search of employment, but things continued to deteriorate.“As a child, there was a point when his father was a mill manager and things were going well. Then his father lost his job. They moved from there to Indore in search of work. After some time, that job was also lost, and they moved somewhere else. The entire family kept moving from one place to another, but they could never settle down. Their financial situation kept getting worse,” Nasirr said.
Walker eventually decided to leave school and start earning himself.
“Daddy left school when he was 12 or 13 and started working. He began selling fruits and ice cream from a bicycle because his father was unable to find another job and could not earn money. He thought, ‘I have to do something. I have to try to earn some money so that the whole family can have two proper meals a day,’” he recalled.
There was hardly a job he did not try
The future comedian’s early working life had little connection with the glamorous world he would eventually enter. He simply kept moving from one opportunity to another.“Daddy used to sell ice cream, sell kite string, work at a bicycle shop, sell fruits and even shout slogans at fairs. There is hardly any job that Daddy did not do,” Nasirr said.He added, “Before he became a bus conductor, when he was 12, 13, 14 or 15 years old, he did all these jobs. He had lost everything at that point.”The family eventually reached Bombay, where Walker got an opportunity to work with BEST.“Then they came to Bombay. My grandfather had some contacts, so they asked if Johnny Walker could be given a job as a conductor with BEST,” Nasirr said.
The bus conductor who found his way into films
The BEST job eventually became an unexpected turning point. While working as a conductor, Walker’s natural comic ability reportedly caught the attention of actor Balraj Sahni, who introduced him to filmmaker Guru Dutt. That connection changed the direction of his life.
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Walker got an opportunity to appear in ‘Baazi’ and gradually established himself as one of Hindi cinema’s most recognisable comic performers. He later featured in films such as ‘Pyaasa’, ‘CID’, ‘Mr. & Mrs. 55’ and ‘Madhumati’.What audiences eventually saw was a confident performer capable of turning even a small appearance into a memorable one. Behind that effortless humour, however, was the story of a boy who had left school at 12, worked several jobs to support his family, lived with limited vision in one eye and still found a way to build a career in cinema.Nasirr’s recollection offers a glimpse into the life of the man behind the laughter, long before Johnny Walker became a name synonymous with comedy in Hindi films.