‘Bips is very family-oriented’:John

Of late, John Abraham has been almost completely out of the public glare. Ask him why and he lets out a deep sigh, one of relief. "It's not as if I'm being a recluse or anything. My father was unwell. We were in and out of the hospital all the time. For that period nothing else mattered to me, nothing at all," he said. "While he was ill, I couldn't think of anything else. Even all those rumours of my so-called break-up with Bipasha just passed over my head," he said.

Bipasha Basu was by John's side throughout the tough time when his father was in hospital. "She's very family-oriented, just like me. To both of us family comes first. Then just when my dad recuperated my mom broke her leg. So it's been all about loving my parents," said John. The doomsday predictions have been proved wrong, at least about this Bollywood relationship. Said John, "Isn't that so with all speculations about relationships? Only the two people in the relationship know the truth. Everyone else makes wild speculations, the wilder the spicier."

He recently worked in two unusual films. "The unusual has become usual for me," said John. "People expect a certain kind of unpredictability in my work," he added.

"And both my films No Smoking and Goal move away from the safe zone. But when have I ever been 'safe' in the safe zone?" he said. In Anurag Kashyap's No Smoking, John plays a chain smoker. "Again it isn't the kind of film that you'd call conventional. I don't mind dancing around trees," he said. "But I'd rather embrace the trees than run around them," says John drawing a sharp reference to his role as an environmentalist in Deepa Mehta's Luna.

Right now, John is upbeat about his work. "I worked really hard for No Smoking. Everyone knows how health conscious I am. But I'd do anything to be true to my character. I don't want to be called a dishonest actor," he added. John had a tough time quitting the poison stick after the film. "I had coughs and craving for months. Fortunately, I was doing a complete health-friendly film Goal side by side. So things got kind of balanced out as they generally do for me, touch wood," he said.

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