For me, the battle will go on: John Abraham

After stepping into the film industry nearly 14 years ago with Jism, the model-turned-actor has been, for the last few years, consciously “trying to build a filmography that is special”. And, he doesn’t mind the failure that this pursuit throws up. “I try not to follow a trend. In my case, such moves have paid off handsomely as well as failed miserably,” says Abraham. After Dishoom, he returns later this year in Force 2 as ACP Yashvardhan who is on a new mission that will see him chasing the baddies. After Force 2, however, he has not signed any film. “What I do, I want to do it right,” he says.

These days, he has producers willing to back his projects, but he is yet to find a script that would interest him enough to face the camera. He mentions that he feels let down by the scripts he gets. “We may have great dialogue writers, but we don’t have screenplay writers who are as good. There is a need for that. There are so many directors who have worked with me and have made it so big today. Have they graduated in the way they tell their stories? I don’t think so,” Abraham says. He proclaims that his office is very democratic where anyone with a great idea is welcome and can expect a patient hearing. “Newcomers come to me because I am someone who listens,” says Abraham.

The pat on the back for making such movies, however, does not always come as expected. And sometimes it comes after a gap. “For a number of my previous movies which have failed, including No Smoking, Water or Kabul Express, people have said that had they released today, they would have done well,” says Abraham, who also knows the brickbats well, the kind he has often got in the past for his acting skills. “Criticism for me is water on a duck’s back. I do respect criticism, but I brush off any criticism that is unwarranted and will harm me.”

After working in a series of comedy and action movies, Abraham says that his “comic timing” gets better with each film while “action” is second nature to him. “I picked up nuances of comedy from Priyadarshan while working on Garam Masala (2005). The other person who helped me by being there is Akshay Kumar. I also learnt from Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav on the sets. I was new to comedy and they were quick. But I worked on my craft,” he says. For him, action is more about attitude. “I have got a good blend of action and comedy. Dishoom has both. For this, I listened to Rohit Dhawan, the director. He is very sure about what he wants,” he says.

Abraham’s image has always been associated with his looks and physique and he knows that. “When I turned producer, there was a 180-degree change in the way people perceived me. They thought here was a thinking actor who was not just about his body or a yellow trunk. For me the battle will go on. I will always try to prove a point. Not to the audience, who has been loving and forgiving, but to my fraternity. When they are least expecting it, I intend to come back with something special,” says the actor, who adds that he prefers polishing his bikes to attending Bollywood parties.