Anurag Kashyap on The Diplomat: ‘After a long time, I am seeing John Abraham being a very a good actor’

Actor John Abraham plays Indian diplomat JP Singh in the Shivam Nair directorial The Diplomat.

New Delhi | March 13, 2025 06:28 PM IST

2 min read

Anurag Kashyap and John Abraham.

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has praised John Abraham’s performance in the upcoming film The Diplomat. John plays Indian diplomat JP Singh in the Shivam Nair directorial releasing this week.

In an interview with The Hindu, Anurag praised John’s performance in The Diplomat, saying he saw him “being a very good” actor in the film. “I really liked The Diplomat. I told John, ‘After a long time, I am seeing you being a very good actor.’ He is not doing unnecessary action or herogiri in the film. He is solely playing a character. And Shivam Nair has made a really engaging film,” he said.

Anurag Kashyap and John Abraham collaborated on the 2007 film No Smoking. While the movie failed at the box office, it has gained cult status over the years. During the recent conversation with Anurag, John expressed his strong desire to make No Smoking 2. Though the director is not entirely opposed to the idea, he stated that he would need a “unique” concept for the sequel. He said, “John really means it but I want a subject. Over a period of time, a film achieves a cult following. So it becomes even more scary to meet people’s expectations. I want to go into that zone only if the subject matter is unique.”

The Diplomat, also starring Sadia Khateeb, Prapti Shukla, Jagjeet Sandhu, Ashwath Bhatt, Sharib Hashmi, Kumud Mishra, Ram Gopal Bajaj, and Benjamin Gilani, will hit screens on March 14.

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