Popular Bollywood comedian Johnny Lever has turned into a Christian preacher and is called ‘Brother’ Johnny Lever now. He has been involved in full-time preaching, attends ‘healing’ meetings, and performs “miracles”, just like “Mera Yeshu Yeshu” fame Pastor Baljinder Singh, for over a decade now.

The comedian-turned-preacher has made some outrageous claims of having treated ailments like paralysis, liver swelling and breast cancer. He hinted that he gained the “healing touch” after he started spreading the word of Jesus worldwide.

Recently, a video of the actor addressing an event organized by Pune-based missionary organization Youth Associate International surfaced online. While addressing the audience in Hindi, Lever recalled the times of the release of Kaho Na Pyar Hai. He had also worked in the movie. He recounts how Hrithik Roshan had risen to overnight stardom, yet his father, Rakesh Roshan, complained that though he had become a star, has money and fame, he suffers from a liver ailment. The senior Roshan, claims Lever, lamented that his son takes a lot of medication but his ailment is not curing, and he is unable to ‘gain weight’.

For the record, this is how Hrithik Roshan looked in the movie Kaho Na Pyar Hai:

Readers can decide for themselves if he looks like an underweight man suffering from a chronic liver ailment. While it is true that Hrithik has suffered from various health issues over the years, we could not find any evidence of him ever suffering from a chronic liver swelling problem.

‘Brother’ Jhonny Lever goes on to add that he felt sad for the lad, and then Rakesh Roshan recalled that Lever had treated him during the shooting of Koyla with the ‘name of Jesus’ and asked if he could do something for Hrithik Roshan as well. Lever then called Hrithik Roshan, and spoke the magic words, “In the name of Jesus, swelling Go… In the name of Jesus, Soojan jaa…” And thus he ‘treated’ the actor. Lever also claimed that the Kaho Na Pyar Hai actor had taken Ayurveda medicines since childhood but got no respite and he, with the name of Jesus, treated him in seconds and Roshan has not taken medicine for that ailment ever again. 

He went on to describe how he had also treated workers on the sets who were suffering from stones. “I was reading the Bible in my van when a man came to me. I asked him to sit and saw that he was having difficulty sitting. When I asked him what had happened, he said he had stones. I prayed ‘In the name of Jesus’ and he was cured in 2 minutes.” 

He also claimed that he saw a long queue of people with similar health issues who waited for him outside, and treated them all by the end of the 10 days he worked on the sets. With these claims, he tried to convince the huge crowd that true dedication to Jesus can treat any difficult disease. 

Apart from actor Hrithik Roshan, Lever claims to have treated ghazal singer Mitali Singh as well. The singer, who lived in his building, was diagnosed with breast cancer. In an interview with Anupam Kher, he shared how they had struggled together and he felt sad for her condition. While talking to her, he heard a voice in his head that told him that her cancer has been cured.

She showed him her reports and told him that a few reports were yet to come. These reports showed that she still had cancer. Lever asked her to take the tests again. She did so. And this time the reports showed that she was cancer-free. He also states that he had treated actor Asrani’s driver when he was suffering from paralysis.

John Prakash Rao “Johny Lever” Janumala was born in 1957 in Kanigiri, Andhra Pradesh and was brought up in Mumbai’s King’s Circle area (Dharavi).

The transition of Johnny Lever into a Christian Preacher and ‘miracle healer’ is quite interesting and contradictory at the same time. At one time he says that his son had been suffering from a tumour on his neck and the doctors in Mumbai refused to operate on him as that could have left the boy paralysed.

The family was going through some difficult times and to cheer them up he took them for a US trip. There, he came across Christian ‘healing’ meetings and he took his son to one such meeting. He said that a pastor in one of those sessions approached him and guided him to a particular hospital in New York saying Jesus will heal his son. There a doctor operated on his son and the operation was successful. This incident made him more religious. He kept his acting aside and dedicated his time toward spreading the word of God. 

However, in another event, Lever claims that his son was diagnosed with cancer, and as a helpless father, he turned to God. He stopped all work and spent all his time praying. Ten days later, the doctors told him that his son’s cancer had vanished. Now it is up to the readers to judge which version is right, or both are just made-up stories. 

This also leaves us with some questions: Why did Johnny Lever need a doctor to treat his son when he could get a miracle performed on him by a pastor?

Back in 2018, he had suffered injuries while shooting for Houseful 4 and was admitted to a hospital. Why didn’t ‘Brother’ Johnny Lever practise some miracle healing on himself?