The Drunken Don of Bollywood

It was just another day for this BEST conductor. As always, he played his gimmics in the bus. Everything was as usual, except for the presence of one man in that bus. At the end of his journey, Balraj Sahni asked Badruddin Qazi(born-1923) to go with him to VKS Padukone, one of the most successful producer-directors of his time. Qazi walked into Padukone's office on Balraj's instructions, as a drunkard. Padukone., better known as Gurudutt, was annoyed at the entry of a drunkard into his office, and when he was about to fire his rage on Qazi, he revealed his true self. As Balraj entered, and the two discussed, Balraj asked Gurudutt if Qazi could be a part of his sets of Baazi(1951). Though there was no role for him, Gurudutt created one minor role for Qazi. Thus began the career of the uncrowned KING of Comedy in the hindi movie industry. His roles were so much based as a drunkard for his beautiful enactment of a drunkard even while he was not drunk. His biggest success as a comedian-actor came with the Gurudutt-DevAnand duo in C.I.D(1955), where Qazi was picturized in this classic that is an ode to the city of a million dreamz, Mumbai, even today. Another evergreen song picturized on Qazi was from Pyaasa(1957). These were not the only few superhits, for every producer and distributor of his era wanted atleast one song picturized on Qazi before they accepted offers. Such was the fame that Qazi had gained as a comedian. However, he proved that he could act serious roles equally well with Rajesh Khanna-Amitabh starrer superhit Anand(1970). His last movie was the 1998 Kamal Hassan starred Chachi-420.

Interestingly enough, Qazi never let a sip of wine down his lips, though most of his acts were as a drunkard. Gurudutt gave him the title, by which the world knows him, for his drunkard's act on the sets of Baazi(1951). The name was from the famous Scotch Whiskey brand "Johnny Walker".

With his demise in 2003, the hindi movie industry lost a gem worth millions.

Badruddin Qazi(1923-2003).

Johnny Walker(1951-). You will never be forgotten.