Force field

He is also looking much leaner than in the film’s promos. Abraham has been answering questions on fitness ever since he began his career,what with overzealous publicists routinely referring to his “riot-inducing hotness” and “demi-god good looks” apart from his various shirtless,as well as trouserless (in Dostana) avatars on screen. It is somewhat disconcerting then to see him bulked down. “I look like a normal human being now. Although I will begin training like an animal from January again,” he says.

Abraham recalls the time his last release Jhootha Hi Sahi failed at the box-office and producer-director Vipul Amrutlal Shah sat with him and gave him a copy of the Tamil blockbuster Kaakha Kaakha. “Normally,I don’t watch Tamil films but Vipul said he was looking for a young action star and would like to cast me in the Kaakha Kaakha remake. I saw the film and it stayed with me for a week. The romance in the film is so beautiful. I called up Vipul and said I would do it,” he recalls.

Force director Nishikant Kamat put him through a gruelling test. Abraham first sat down with his character,ACP Yashwardhan,a Narcotics Bureau officer and tried to imbibe his characteristics. The sketching and profile took three months while researching how these officers work took another two months. It was then that Kamat dropped his bomb. “I want you to look like a tough officer. I cannot give you any parameters about the look from anyone in Bollywood. Try to see if you can get a Sylvester Stallone body,” he told Abraham.

Eight months later,Abraham was ready to shoot as the Indian Stallone. There were changes in his diet and workout pattern but the actor feels that he only achieved about 70 per cent of the fitness that he could extract from his body. He has given himself another four years to become hundred per cent fit. For now,he has made his impact visible in the right circles. Abraham will take off to Los Angeles in December,purportedly to get into shape for his role as gangster Manya Surve in Sanjay Gupta’s Shootout At Wadala with J. J. Perry,who trains with Stallone regularly and was also responsible for making Gerard Butler famous in India after sculpting his look as Spartan King Leonidas in Zack Snyder’s 300.

With so much happening on the action front,Abraham says he wants a new moniker: Action Abraham. “I won’t be happy if Force works or sad if it doesn’t. But I will be happy if the action in the film works. I want to do a lot of action films now. Action and comedy genres sound good to me,” he says. Of his forthcoming films,he says that Housefull 2 is a laugh-riot. He promises people will laugh at him in person after they see some of the antics he has performed on screen of the forthcoming Sajid Khan-directed film. “I love Sajid Khan. He’s like a drug and I really enjoy working with him. The crazy things we’ve done in this film..” he trails off,laughing in spite of himself. There is also Race 2,wherein he plays a role inspired by Dhoom. The actor,along with Rose Films and Reliance Entertainment is also co-producing I,Me Aur Main,a film wherein he plays a music producer.

Force,thus,marks the end of experimental films that Abraham was associated with thus far. He acknowledges this by saying he is at that phase in his career where commercial films appeal to him. Referring to himself in the third person he says,“John Abraham is known to do experimental films but when he does a commercial film,be it Dhoom or Dostana,it always works. The difference in Force is that I’ve experimented doing a complete commercial film for the first time. I’ve been told that films like Dabangg,Ready,Wanted,Singham and Bodyguard have done really well. Hopefully,Force,which is a hardcore action film with great entertainment value,will do as well.”

While some would say that he has burnt his fingers enough times with films like Paap,No Smoking and Water,to name just a few of his experimental films,Abraham himself seems keen to get back to the genre that he has hitherto forsaken for the foreseeable future. “I do these films because I do different things in my own life. If people drive on the road,John Abraham drives off the road. Normal,to me,is boring. If I can experiment with my life,why not my films? The issue is that these films don’t work at the box-office. But this is just a phase. I will get back to these films soon,” he says,assuring himself of his ability to destroy this Goliath of his career.

Perhaps it’s not too surprising (and ironic) that he chose such films to improve his standing as an actor when the crop of model-turned-heroes were all the rage in the last decade. After debuting with the lust-adorned Jism,Abraham seemed to have exorcised those ghosts through consistent performances when his movies Dhoom and Dostana appealed to audiences as well as critics. But,last year murmurs about his career’s longevity resurfaced again when the long-delayed Aashayein and only other release Jhootha Hi Sahi failed to enthuse anyone. “I’ll be frank. Jhootha Hi Sahi was a disaster. Force,on the other hand,as I said,a commercial movie,always works for me. However,since the beginning of my career,I wanted the trade to realise my acting potential. And although my physicality became etched in audiences’ minds,I also want them to recognise my acting skills,” he says.

Abraham says that he dispassionately dissected the reasons why his experimental films didn’t click with the audience. Of the many offbeat films he has acted in,he chooses Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking as a primer and says that audiences were not mature the time the film was released in 2007. “If it had released four years later,it might have worked at least marginally. People have been fed linear commercial films for so long that films like No Smoking did not have a chance to register on their minds. Audiences want something light-hearted and here I was,adding another complexity in their already complex lives in No Smoking,” he says,staring into space. Some merit to the “mature audience” argument comes in the form of acceptance that the Kashyap-produced Shaitan and the latest Aamir Khan Productions films garnered upon its release. It is probably this that emboldens Abraham to say,“If I get into yellow trunks (as in Dostana),I know it will work but where’s the fun in that? Doing a No Smoking 2,3 and 4 … that’s fun,that’s what I’m talking about. In fact,people today tell me that No Smoking is a cult film for them.”

Suddenly,there seems to be a twinge of regret in his voice. The dimples temporarily dismount from his two-day old stubble. You wonder if he feels his career could have been any different without the risks he’s taken. “My career could have been better,yes. But I am not satisfied. The producers and directors of my films are relaxed because I am a big actor in a big commercial setup today,but I think there is still a long way to go before I can say I am happy with the way my career has shaped up,” he says.

His next release,thus,also marks another change in his career. From the films that he did over the past couple of years,he will be seen in almost half a dozen films through 2012. While this was dictated by practical reasons of looking a certain way in each film,for example as the un-muscled Sid in Jhootha Hi Sahi and the super bulked-up ACP Yashvardhan in Force,his co-production I,Me Aur Main was delayed by three months after director Kapil Sharma told him to lose his muscles to look like a music producer.

In his forthcoming films,beginning with Desi Boyz,he will look almost similar in his films,marking an end to the fluctuations in his body’s proportions. “I know I am doing too many films. Sometimes I can’t take the load,” the actor says adding that producers are happy to know he is not making too many demands on his body at the moment. For example,Race 2 producer Ramesh Taurani told Abraham recently not to increase his weight since he was looking just fine in his current state.

While his offbeat films may not have set cash registers ringing,Abraham has consistently portrayed different roles across various genres. From Jism to Jhootha Hi Sahi,Kabul Express,Water,Saaya and 7 Khoon Maaf,he has played various characters in a bid to showcase his acting skills. There is however,one genre that the actor is quite keen to explore. “I would love to do an action comedy. Something on the lines of Bad Boys would be cool,” he says of the popular Martin Lawrence-Will Smith franchise. And who would he like as his detective sidekick? “Akshay Kumar,he’s the best; or Abhishek Bachchan,” he says.

The actor,who has already stepped into production,is also looking at direction after five to seven years. When asked if he would do something on the lines of No Smoking,a wiser Abraham answers,“I am not sure what exactly I will direct but it will be a commercial blockbuster for sure.”

May the force be with him.

priyanko.sarkar@expressindia.com