Best Comedians

Top ten comedians in Bollywood

Mehmood

Definitely, a class act. Very talented, and very funny. A lot of classic roles of the hero's buddy went to him, and he partnered almost all successful heroes, Dharmendra, Rajendra Kumar, Jeetendra etc. in his films. Padosan, the cult comedy, was a landmark in Hindi movies, and his role in Gumnaam, and the song, Hum Kaale Hain to Kya Hua Dilwaale Hain, is unique. Bombay to Goa was one of Amitabh's early breaks, produced by him. Some heroes were actually scared to have him because he was a scene-stealer, it appears from a biography of his I read. One role I particularly liked was in an old movie, Aulad, where he played a Chaplinesque character and sang the song Jodi hamari bane na kaisejaani, hum to hain angrezi, tum ladki Hindustani.. with Aruna Irani.

Asrani

Some of his acts were over-the-top, but some were classy. His jailer in Sholay was a classic, with almost all the lines becoming household words. He also played some caricatures in Baawarchi and the like, as well as some mature, non-comic roles in films like Abhimaan, where he is a sympathetic friend of Amitabh through his bad times.

Deven Varma

A relatively sophisticated comedian, who played a lot of funny characters, but his best remembered perhaps will be the 'Angoor' role because the situations in the film brought out his best.

Johny Walker

An old-timer, he played a side-kick to many yesteryear heroes, from Guru Dutt to Dilip Kumar. Sang some famous songs too, like Jangal mein mor naacha... and Sar jo tera Chakraye. He also played an important character in Anand, who fulfills Rajesh Khanna's urge to act, and gives him the dialogue which forms a pivotal part of the film.

Johny Lever

Some good roles played by him were in Ishq, Baazigar and so on. His ability to contort his face, unfortunately, was over-used, but he was also a good imitator of people, and he came out with audio tapes that did justice to his talent too.

Rajendranath

He had a few memorable roles, some of them with Rajesh Khanna in his heyday. His look was at times enough to create laughter, but I remember him as a spy in an unknown movie called Saboot, wearing glasses that had wipers on them!

Jagdeep

This guy was also very talented, and used well only half the time. Some memorable roles were of Soorma Bhopali in Sholay, and Mithun Chakraborty's side-kick in his Gunmaster films like Suraksha and Wardaat, where he kept uttering Khamba Ukhaadke every now and then.

Kishore Kumar

He was a brilliant comic, apart from his many other talents. His films like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi gave him ample scope to showcase his comic genius, and his role of a music teacher/singer in Padosan was unforgettable.

Amitabh Bachchan

If you saw him in Chupke Chupke or delivering his solo drunken speech in Amar Akbar Anthony, you would never mistake him for an angry young man. He had a great comic streak, mostly left to one or two directors to exploit. Namak Halal was also a great chance for him to use his comic timing, and he did that wonderfully.

Dharmendra

The he-man of the sixties and seventies is a great comedy actor too, as exemplified by Sholay, and also Chupke Chupke. He was the soul of Chupke Chupke, and his crackling battle of wits with Om Prakash made it an all-time great.

Sanjeev Kumar

He had a few good opportunities to show off the comic side, like in Manchali, and Manoranjan, which was supposedly inspired by Irma La Douce, a story of the Ladies of the night.