I’m a man from nowhere, says John Abraham

Far, far away from the all-brawn-no-brain stereotype, John Abraham makes a sharp impression even in the most casual of attires — a pair of jeans and a dark blue tee emblazoned with his love for football. As he settles down for an interview with a group of journalists in the capital, he is alert, confident, witty and unapologetically honest — at times rather surprisingly so. He talks candidly about the difference between his sensibilities as an actor and his vision as a producer, why he never has and never will attend an award function, and more.

Producer’s Vision John’s most recent Bollywood release, Nishikant Kamat-directed Rocky Handsome, is — he affirms — his “safest” bet as a producer so far. The reason he gives for this affirmation is that it is — unlike his two earlier productions — a typically “commercial” film that is being marketed that way too. This begs the question — have his first two outings as a producer involved a conscious move towards a different kind of content than commercial potboilers “As a producer, I have a very clear vision. I’d like to make films that are high on quality as well as content. The kind of filmmaking I want to encourage as a producer balances entertainment and credibility to make for a truly different experience,” he says and adds, “As an actor, I love doing larger than life commercial films like Welcome Back, but my sensibilities as a producer are very different. And I think these two can coexist within any individual. It’s a very conscious, well thought-out division in my head. I will not make endless sequels to films that work either, like a Vicky Donor 2 is not happening right now. It’s what people might want me to do, but I will always make something different and surprise them with it. Only by thinking differently myself can I make people think differently too.” At the same time, he isn’t looking at an entirely alternative space either. “Let me put it this way, as a producer I want to marry commerce with content. When you watch a film produced by me, you shouldn’t come out and say, what a terrible film. You should come out feeling entertained and at the same time satisfied with the quality of its content,” he explains.

Message driven The actor-producer believes that while cinema has the ability to influence the audience in crucial ways, films need not take a didactic turn to fulfil that purpose, “The thing is, every film doesn’t need to give out a heavy message. At the same time, every film needs to be credible. If you look at my films, there are times when they end up giving out important messages without really intending on doing that as their primary objective. That’s the kind of thing I like as a viewer too,” he says and explains by giving an example of the films he has worked on with Kamat as director, “Nishi and I have a thing against drugs, and you’ll find that being addressed somewhere in all our films, but very subtly. It’s not like we’d have someone holding up a disclaimer that screams, ‘drugs are bad for health’.”

Hollywood dreams “I’m in no hurry to go to Hollywood,” John affirms as soon as someone mentions the trajectory of Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone and asks him whether he’d like to go the same way. “I think my foremost priority at the moment, as an actor as well as a producer, is to make films in our own industry that can be fairly compared to the West and hold their own in that comparison. I want to make films that get people to exclaim, wow, this came out of India And a lot of our films are doing that already,” he says with a considerable note of pride and adds, “As far as Deepika and Priyanka are concerned, as a colleague I am extremely proud of them. I mean, they’ve gone there on their own individual merit and are bagging lead roles, which is fantastic! A big salute to them. As for me, I’m okay here. We’ll decide later where I want to go and when I want to go there.”

Changing times Even as he acknowledges the changing face of Indian cinema, he also points out that the Indian audience is changing too — which might have a lot to do with how more kinds of content is being accepted and embraced by more people now.

“Take Rocky Handsome, for example. At a recent screening, we found that the girls in particular loved the action sequences. And we were genuinely surprised by their response because we honestly weren’t expecting it,” the actor avers and adds, “Today’s generation of girls is completely different from the earlier generation that would cover their eyes if there was something violent happening on screen. Today’s women found the action in our film sexy! Maybe it’s because of the way we’ve presented it, but this change is definitely noteworthy. I’ll give you another example. Three days ago, I was in a lift with a young girl and when she recognised me, she mimed out some action moves for me I would expect a boy to do that, but this one was a little girl!”

Circus acts While the film industry is reinventing itself, one thing that remains more or less unchanged is the award show format — gimmicks that make fun of actors included. Responding to a question about a recent dig Riteish Deshmukh took at him while hosting an award show, John asserts, “I don’t go for award functions. They’re circus acts and I don’t take them seriously. Riteish is a friend and I take whatever might have been said by him in good spirit. He’s a good man, so I don’t take anything he may have said negatively at all. In general, though, award functions really are circuses. And circuses are for monkeys, not for me.” Being a biking enthusiast, he holds a similar view of how motorcycles are treated in Bollywood too. “Oh, it’s a joke. Motorcycles are mostly used as props right now, like for people to dance around. I’m actually working on developing a script around motorcycling — I want to bring the motorcycle back to its original essence and reaffirm what it’s meant to stand for. I want it to be used with some more credibility, not as a prop at award functions or for item numbers,” he says.

From nowhere to somewhere John has been known to hold Akshay Kumar in high regard, professionally as well as personally. Talking about his recent admission that he calls Akshay “guruji” and really looks up to him as a source of inspiration, the actor shares, “Akshay’s lifestyle truly inspires me. He’s a very fit man and is very positive. He’s a good human being and the two of us genuinely get along — not just because we’ve worked together or will work together in future, but because we’re genuinely friends outside the industry. It’s really nice to have someone like that in your life. He rose to superstardom from nowhere and even I’m a man from nowhere, so I can really relate to him that way too.”