THE ONLY VILLAIN WHO INSPIRED A LEGION OF STAND-UP COMICS

It is said that the real measure of your fame lies in how many imitators one creates. Charlie Chaplin might have been thrilled to discover that Raj Kapoor was popularizing his tramp figure among Indian audiences. Amitabh Bachchan must have smiled wryly to himself at seeing many romantic heroes from the seventies, trying desperately to ape the ‘angry young man' and failing miserably. 

Nothing succeeds like success – and once people discover a good thing, hundreds will jump on the bandwagon and be inspired to follow the leader. Now this is the norm with heroes and heroines, singers and musicians and even successful scripts. But can you imagine a villain whose style was so distinctive that he didn’t inspire imitations, but instead, started a cottage industry of stand-up comics who created one-liners galore under his name.

This is truly unparalleled – for while villains may have had several parodies of their acts on screen, this villain stands apart for the reams and  reams of jokes that have been created around his persona.

That actor was Ajit – whose one classic line in the film "Kalicharan," set off peals of laughter with its unintended pronunciation. That line was, “Sara Shehar Hume Loin Ke Naam Se Jaanta Hai.”  Now those were the days, when it was probably too tedious to think of correcting the pronunciation of ‘Loin’ to ‘Lion’ and anyway, Subhash Ghai, the director of "Kalicharan" must have thought that Hindi movies are made for the masses, so the little slip of tongue by Ajit would go unnoticed in the larger scheme of things.

However, in that hit movie, this inadvertent phrasing, “Sara Shehar Hume Loin Ke Naam Se Jaanta Hai,” became an urban legend. It was the spark where comedians looked forward to the next film for similar gaffes to fuel their comedic acts. What they discovered was a treasure trove of characteristics in Ajit, the villain.

First, there were his henchmen – all God fearing, but devil worshiping Christians like “Raabert” or “Mikaal.” A moll named Mona would always be floating around in a bathtub somewhere, probably trying to see if the Archimedes principle worked. (What displaced more matter in Ajit’s brain? Mona…ya Sona? Ya Mona ke saath Sona?)

Sample some of these side-splitting Ajit jokes:

Ajit:  Raabert, iss ko liquid oxygen may daal do! Liquid isse jeene nahi dega, oxygen isse marne nahi dega!

Ajit:   Raabert, isse champagne mein daal do! Woh shame se nahin mara toh pain se zaroor marega!

Ajit:    Raabert, iss Secretary ke haath kaat daalo! Usey typing toh aati nahin, shorthand kar legi.

Ajit:     Mona, tum Tony ke saath mat jao
Mona: Par boss, kyon nahin!?!
Ajit:      Kyon ke dear, badi Monatony ho jayegi…

So while you quickly google some more Ajit jokes over the internet, do doff your hat to the villain, jise saari duniya loin ke naam se jaanti thi. 

The link to take you to some of his jokes is here:

Ajit Jokes