Bollywood actor John Abraham is back in Abu Dhabi to film his latest movie Dishoom.
The gigantic movie lights and cameras have transformed the country’s most famous track, the Yas Marina Circuit, into a movie set and tabloid! was there to catch up with the charming actor and producer.
Abraham was calm, cool and unfazed by the mill of activity around him. First there was the Nissan promotion team who were filming him — photographers hovered to capture the perfect pose — then there were people trying to click quick selfies with him, with or without his permission; he was a true professional and just got on with it.
“It’s fantastic to come back to a place [UAE] that is wonderful, people are lovely. It’s shooting friendly, as a producer and actor it is a fantastic place to be,” he said.
He was wearing black jeans and a short-sleeved, black V-shaped T-shirt that revealed much of his well defined chest and put his biceps on display.
Abraham was in the UAE back in 2014 for his comedy film Welcome Back. The shoot in Abu Dhabi last week was supposed to start earlier, but it was delayed due to a knee injury the actor suffered when he was filming Force 2 in Budapest.
“I had three surgeries and I just got out about a month ago and I am back doing action, driving, it’s fun,” he said. He went on to explain (laughing), “because I have signed up for action, there are no complaints about getting beaten around.”
Abraham, who started shooting on Yas Island last week, eagerly explained what we can expect from his latest movie.
“It’s a fun, commercial, action, comedy thriller. Pretty much [on the] lines of Bad Boys and a little bit of Rush Hour. It’s about two cops and what they set out to do and that brings us to Abu Dhabi, which has an important character in the film.”
Abraham is known for doing dangerous stunts, and in this movie, “I am hanging off a helicopter, but that’s not really crazy for me. I have done crazier things,” he said.
So what is the craziest stunt that the actor has pulled off? “In Budapest, I had to wire down two buildings and the wire broke, so I came falling down the third floor and luckily I was wearing padding. I slammed my back against a wall and I hit the ground. I was out for about 30 seconds and I didn’t know what hit me.”
Abraham tells the story nonchalantly as though it was the story of tripping over his shoelace in a playground. “One of the guys from the crew ran in there [and was] like, ‘Are you OK? Are you OK?’. [I told them] my back is made of rock let’s go for it.
“I have practically broken every bone in this body, I have hairline breaks in both my shins, both my forearms, got a hairline crack at the back of my skull, my back, you name it.”
He then lowered his collar and pointed to scars on his chest. He said: “Scars from kick-boxing. I have just been damaged all over, but I think it’s good for a man to have some scars, it shows his experience.” He added; “I don’t think pretty boys are very pretty.”
The Rocky Handsome actor and his Dishoom co-stars, Varun Dhawan and Jaqueline Farnandez, are filming the movie in a number of locations, which Abraham insists, although very hard work, it is still fun. “So we had a great time shooting part of this film in Morocco, a little part in Bombay [Mumbai] and now we are in Abu Dhabi.”
Abraham has a Marvel action hero sort of presence about him; he’s a nice guy, like Superman, who looks ready to burst out of his clothes any minute and save you or the world should a catastrophe suddenly strike. So, of course, we asked what his secret was to obtaining such a perfect physique. “You have to have a strong mind, you can’t be weak. You have got to be disciplined and consistent every day,” he said.
“I haven’t cheated on a meal for the past 23 years so if you can do it for 23 days then we’ll start talking,” he joked.
He then spoke about his preference for action movies over dancing. “It’s fun to dance, but I have signed up for action. I like doing a lot of action, nothing against dancing ... It’s very difficult for a person of my physicality to be a cute boy,” he said, and then quickly clarified, “I don’t have a problem with cute boys.”
Abraham also shared his love for the types of movies he loves to do. “I love comedy and I love action. So I do either action or comedy or an action-comedy, that’s what I enjoy.”
He said he would not be interested in doing a romantic comedy unless it was “well scripted”. He explained: “Let me give you an example, George Clooney’s Up In The Air is the type of film that I would love to do.”
Abraham is known for his work ethic and is booked to work movies back-to-back, but what does the action star consider a perfect day off?
“I train in the morning for a couple of hours, I do a lot of cross-fit functional training. I am into strength training as well, but I am not a bodybuilder. It’s about athletics, moving around, jumping around. Have a great meal. This is a perfect day, I got out on the track [Yas Marina Circuit] and I drove around it, I wish I could do this every week. To be very fair every week I would like to come on to the track.”
Shooting for Dishoom is expected to carry on in Abu Dhabi for another 40 days, and with the star returning to the UAE more for films the question on everyone’s mind is whether he will buy a property here. “I must have a reason to buy a property in Dubai and I haven’t found that yet, but I would love to,” he said.
