John Abraham recalls dad being stressed about putting ‘food on the table’ after being cheated at work, says elderly parents still travel by auto, bus

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Recalling a story from his childhood, John said, “I remember I was in class eight, and my dad came home from work. We were having dinner, and he said, ‘I don’t know how to put food on the table tomorrow’. He was very tense. His partner at his architecture firm had cheated him. I don’t know if I meant it as a joke, but I told him, ‘Dad, don’t worry. You see this face? I’ll sell it one day’. It wasn’t ego, it was manifestation.”

John said that he is an atheist, but for him, his dad is God. He admitted that he was a ‘frustrated’ youth, because of the struggles that he saw his parents endure. “I didn’t have any money. I saw my parents struggle a lot. The school I went to only had rich kids; their parents were industrialists and actors. I was an average student, but I was number one in sports. School was a great leveller, but the moment I graduated, I was hit by reality,” John said.

He continued, “I used to travel by local trains, and my classmates had Audis, Mercedes, BMWs… This was in the early 90s. I noticed the inequality. That created a frustration within me. But I’m glad I didn’t have what they had back then, because today, I feel pride for the upbringing my parents gave me. I learnt social work from my mother; if she has Rs 100, Rs 99 will go to charity. My dad told me, ‘Even if you’re dying of hunger, never be dishonest in life’. And that’s what I learned from him.”

John broke out as a model, and then emerged as a successful leading man in the Hindi film industry. In 2023, he starred as the villain in the biggest hit of his career, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan. He will soon be seen in Vedaa, directed by Nikkhil Advani.