Mard (1998)

Film: Mard

Date Of Release: 1998

Director/Writer: Ganapati Bohra

Producer: Sunil Bohra

Lead Cast: Johnny Lever, Mithun Chakraborty, Gulshan Grover

Comedian-turned-Christianity preacher Johnny Lever may have become a worker of miracles now, but he built his career by promoting hatred towards another faith – Hinduism.

Here is a scene from one of his earlier films in which he defiantly tells his mother that he won’t eat prashaad or enter a temple because “bhagwaan ne mere liye kiya kya hai?”

Of course, the scene would remind one of a similar (but much politer) scene in Deewar (1975) that set the template for several Bollywood films in which the protagonist would dismiss the existence of bhagwaan in Sanatan Dharma.

Now the question is, would Lever have signed up for the film if his character had to reject the existence of Jesus or the practice of Sunday Mass?

pic.twitter.com/sxl7feOW5l — Gems of Bollywood Fan (@FilmyKhichdii) February 7, 2023