Mukri was one of the shorter actors in Bollywood and hence he got chances to play comedy roles in his career that spanned over five decades. But he was an outsize talent anyway. He had a great pairing with one of the tall actor Sheikh Mukhtar- one was tall and other was short- both looked like Laurel and Hardy on screen. Mukri was a classmate of legendary actor Dilip Kumar and both made their debut in the same year in Hindi cinema. It is said that Dilip Kumar helped Mukri a lot. Their friendship continued until Mukri expired.
Mukri entered film industry as an assistant director in Bombay Talkies which was run by Devika Rani. She liked Mukri’s smile and offered him a role in their home production. That is how even Dilip Kumar got a break in Bombay Talkies’ production. What made Mukri different from other comedians was that he used to laugh in every scene that had comedy dialogues. He stole scenes regularly and he was hilarious in every film whether he is playing servant or a gardener or even a show organiser in many films. His last film was ‘Sharabi’ with Amitabh Bachchan where he played the role of ‘Nathulal’ which has an iconic dialogue of the superstar, ‘Mooche Ho Toh Nathulal Jaise, ‘Warna Na Ho’. He also did cop comedy in ‘Babu’ with Rajesh Khanna. He even acted in Subash Ghai’s film ‘Karma’ as Chote Khan. Even in his numerical small sizes role, this comedian was a standout. His funniest roles that stand out are from films like ‘Ram Lakhan’ (as Dhondu Nai), ‘Coolie’(Rati’s father), ‘AmarAkbar Anthony’( Neetu Singh’s father),’ Bombay To Goa’(a South Indian), etc.
As a comedian, he often portrayed a less ridiculous character that put him as the best comedian in mainstream cinema. He acted with almost every leading actor and actresses of Bollywood. He had a toothless smile and a perfect comedy timing which amused the audiences in any scene. He was a favourite comedian for all leading directors like Subash Ghai, Prakash Mehra or Manmohan Desai. He acted with other comedians too like Johny Walker, Mehmood, Asrani and Jagdeep. He made his debut with film ‘Pratima’ along with Dilip Kumar and all his films with Dilip Kumar like “Aan” and “Amar” was extremely popular. He was born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Maharashtra on January 5, 1922, and passed away on September 4, 2000, in Mumbai.
