When Johnny came calling

What's in a name, you ask. When it comes to Bollywood, plenty. In movies where names like Raj, Rahul, Rohit are common, a name like Johnny stands out.

With Tera Kya Hoga Johnny starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kay Kay Menon, Soha Ali Khan, Shahana Goswami all set for this Friday, here's a look at films with Johnny in the title and the actors who play the character.

In Tera Kya Hoga Johnny, a relatively new boy by the name of Sikander Agarwal (see inset) plays Johnny. Sikander Agarwal has earlier worked in director Florian Gallenberger's German movie Schatten der Zeit (Shadows of Time).

In Tera Kya Hoga Johnny, Sikander plays a tea-coffee delivery boy who gets caught in a crime not of his own making.

Parvez (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is in love with corrupt encounter cop Chiple's (Kay Kay Menon) wife Divya (Shahana Goswami) and plans to run away with her. But he has no money. So he decides to rob Chiple and involves Johnny in the crime.

Earlier titled Shoebite, Johnny Mastana is directed by Soojit Sircar and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Dia Mirza, Sarika and Jimmy Shergill.

Johnny Mastana tells the story of John Pereira (Amitabh Bachchan), a man in his early 60's who sets out on a journey from Manali to Kanya Kumari after his wife (Sarika) dies.

Johnny Mastana stalled because of a legal battle between UTV and Percept Pictures Limited.

Director Sriram Raghvan is a huge fan of director Vijay Anand, who made Johhny Mera Naam, so he decided to name the film Johnny Gaddar.

He even dedicated the movie starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, Dharmendra and Rimi Sen to the late director in the opening credits of the movie.

In fact, there is one scene which shows a receptionist at a hotel lobby watching Johny Mera Naam. Hence the name Johnny Gaddar.

This classic from Vijay Anand is the story about two brothers Mohan (Pran) and Sohan (Dev Anand).  

Tragedy strikes when the brothers' father, a police inspector, gets killed by a goon on Ranjit's (Premnath) behest.

Mohan gets rid of the goon and hides in the boot of a car. The brothers get separated.

Flash forward a few years and we see Sohan as a CID officer who solves his cases by going undercover using different disguises one of which is Johnny, a petty thief. 

The movie also stars Dream Girl Hema Malini.

The film is based on the novel Paper Moon.

Ginny Aur Johnny is directed by Mehmood who also acts in the movie. He plays Johnny while his daughter Baby Ginni plays Ginny.

Amjad Khan, Helen, Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Vinod Mehra, Rakesh Roshan and Nutan all had small but relevant parts in this film.