JOHN's Interview

In a black suit, and his trademark shoulder length hair, John Abraham is looking smashing. Happily posing with his reel-life ladylove Bipasha Basu and Amitabh Bachchan against the posters of his forthcoming film, the Vikram Bhatt-directed Aetbaar, John is looking excited. He calls himself the "newest entrant in this film" while he describes his character, Aryan, an obsessive lover who wreaks havoc in Bipasha's and thereby her father's life in a seemingly deceptive way.

We spoke to John about Aetbaar and his experience of working with Bachchan

On his character Aryan
"I play this guy who's obsessive about Bipasha's character and quietly makes her fall in love with me. He's a whacked out guy who is out to destroy her little by little. I can't tell much about him because only when you see the film, you would know what he's about, the shock value would only increase then."

On whether he's repaying Bipasha in her own coin for in Jism she destroyed him
(Smiles) "Well, in this film I'm not only torturing her but her entire family, specially her father who she loves the most."

On how Aryan is different from the other obsessive lovers we have seen on screen before
"You must have seen Shah Rukh Khan in Darr or the other such characters, which you knew were these crazy guys whereas Aryan is more deceptive, there are times when you wouldn't even know what's going on in his mind."

Whether his vulnerable face made it difficult to bring the nastiness across
"On the contrary, I think my vulnerability made the nastiness and the mean streak look more forceful. It worked to my advantage."

On his chemistry with Bipasha Basu
"Well, it's good that people find our pair good but I think as an actor you need to work a chemistry with your other co-stars too and I hope that I look good with the other heroines too."

Whether he was nervous working with Mr Bachchan and what is the single most important thing he learnt from him
"Not really as I was more excited. Come on, how many actors get a chance to work with a legend like him at such an early stage of his career. I have learnt a lot more from him but the important thing was how to be on time, how to be punctual on the sets and anywhere else."

On his future projects
"There is Elaan by Vikram again with Rahul Khanna and Mithun Chakraborty as villain. That's going to be very exciting. And of course there are a few big banners with who I will be working but nothing to talk about at this stage."

Model turned actor John Abraham is "unapologetic" about films cashing in on his beefcake image and feels he can dispense with human co-stars in his films when there are motorbikes around.

Excerpts of an interview John Abraham gave to IANS:

You had "Aetbaar" last week and "Paap" this week.
I wonder if that's healthy at the box office! I wish there was a bigger gap between the two. Ironically, though the first release is "Aetbaar" (trust), I play a negative role in it. While in "Paap" (sin), I'm an upright cop! Though I'm the reason for the paap there.

At one point I wanted "Aetbaar" to be my debut. But I've no regrets at all about "Jism" being my first film. My career has taken the course I wanted.

For once a role offers you meat rather than making you the meat.
You mean in terms of performing scope? But I wasn't just the meat in "Jism" or "Saaya". "Jism" was very exhausting as an actor. Though I'm far more aggressive in "Aetbaar", I had to work equally hard on both.

You had a chance to interact with the mighty Bachchan in "Aetbaar"?
Yes, you know what's really remarkable about him? Though he towers above all his co-stars he treated me like an equal. I think my not being from a film family helped me to cover up my awe and just perform with him. Of course, I grew up watching Bachchan and, like everyone in India, I admire him immensely. After I did my first scene with him, I told him it was impossible for me to remember my dialogues since he says his lines so powerfully.

You and Bipasha are a real-life couple. Does that make acting together tough?
We became friends when "Aetbaar" started shooting, so there was no uneasiness about acting together. In our case, it's business as usual. We've only one more film "Mumkin" together. I can't say anything much about it. It's unreal!

Bipasha was supposed to do "Paap"?
As far as I know they needed a 'pahadi' (hill) girl and Bipasha never fitted the bill. Udita Goswami is the right choice. "Paap" does cash in on my so-called beefcake image. But I'm not the least apologetic. I'm really proud of "Paap". I play a very focussed cop in "Paap", a total antithesis to my character in "Aetbaar". We shot at a very high-altitude place called Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh. It gave me a new high in life.


Pooja Bhatt is your first woman director.
Yes. But before "Paap" she produced "Jism". And she was very active on that project. Doing the love scenes in front of Pooja Bhatt was no hassle. She actually showed me and Udita how to go about it. But I don't think "Paap" has too much oomph and titillation. Though it sounds like it, "Paap" isn't a sex film.

Sure. You do some serious masala acting in "Lakeer" next month?
It's the quintessential commercial product with action romance and emotions. I had never done a multi-starrer before. I met all my co-stars -- Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty and Sohail Khan -- for the first time. Suniel and Sohail are so sweet and helpful. I didn't see any kind of rivalry. Sunny Deol is so soft spoken, unlike the aggressive image he has on screen.

"Lakeer" takes me into an entirely new sensibility. I never thought it would be so easy. Without a stubble I look younger, not in-your-face macho. I'm also doing "Elaan" for Vikram Bhatt with Arjun Rampal and Rahul Khanna. Rahul is lovely. Arjun is really sweet. Both are really good-looking and I'm not halfway bad either!

How many roles are you offered every week?
I can tell you how many good roles I'm offered -- none.

How does 2004 look to you?
Bright. I'll be shooting Deepa Mehta's film in April-May. I've been offered Karan Johar's production to be directed by Soham Shah. It's starting in October.

But, right now, I'm having a ball shooting for Yash Chopra's production "Dhoom". This is a dream role because I get to indulge in my favourite passion. I get to ride motorbikes. Who needs a human co-star when I've a bike? Believe me, there's no creature more beautiful than a motorbike.

So when do we hear wedding bells for you and Bipasha?
Right now it's just work for both of us. I want to concentrate on my career. We'll cross the bridge when we come to it.

thankx alot for the articles i luv him😛

thanks again.....he's good 😊

Yeah, he's one of Tani's hubbies whom I intend to steal........😆

thanx he rox! did u see him in the iifa awards ......................😛😛😛 i wonder how tani will feel abt it???????????😉

thankx for the interview

I think John's buff!!! Anyone agree?