John Abraham, who has had patriotism as the central theme in most of his films in the recent past, is now gearing up to play a super-soldier in his next venture Attack: Part 1 which releases today. The Free Press Journal caught up with the actor for an exclusive chat.
Excerpts:
Do you believe that you have carved your niche with action-patriotic films?
I have carved my niche as a producer, who makes different films like Vicky Donor, Madras Cafe, Parmanu and Batla House. I am sure people didn’t expect something interesting until they saw the trailer of Attack: Part 1. Action is second nature to me but action only works when it is conceptually driven. I just want people to think that if a film is backed by JA Entertainment, it has to be different.
But you do commercial entertainers also in between such as Satyameva Jayate 2?
Commercial entertainers come with a risk of either completely failing like I did or you see the hindsight of it. It is like batting in a cricket game, if you get the ball right, you’ll hit a sixer.
How confident are you of Attack: Part 1 being a different film?
As a producer, I am not into hard selling crap. Every film has the first, second, and third act but the first half of this film is about setting up and the second half is the climax, the runtime of the film is just 1 hour 46 minutes. My 30-year old director Lakshya Raj Anand doesn't want people to even check their phones while watching it. It is fast and different, people would be hooked. Attack: Part 1 is the first of many films since we completely reversed the film mechanism while making it.
Do you plan to expand the Attack: Part 1 universe?
We have the concept ready for part 2 but we don’t know when we will start it. It was my decision to put part 1 in the title because when I saw the end, I realised that it has a scope for the second part. We are only focusing on the first part as of now and will wait for the response and then take the call accordingly.
Director Milap Zaveri said in an interview that the idea of SMJ 3 is ready. Do we get to see four Johns in it?
I am doing a certain set of subjects that I am committed to. My next film is called Tehran, it is very close to my heart since I love geo-political space. It is in the Madras Cafe space, very heavy but beautiful content. Beyond this film, I have absolutely no project in mind.
How do you feel when people call you a modernised patriot?
I thought that was Akshay Kumar. For me, India's heroism doesn't come from waving the national flag, that's being jingoistic. For me, what is cool about India is, for example in the Russia and Ukraine war, I am not getting into politics, but India has abstained (from voting against Russia in UN), why has India abstained? It is because India is smart enough to understand that their oldest ally has always been Russia. India has recognised that, for me that is heroism, what India has done is correct by not getting under the pressure to now give a vote against Russia. I am not saying I stand for the war, I don't stand for the war, my idea of heroism is that.
Do you get invited to these Bollywood political meetings?
Yes, I do, but I don't go because I am apolitical. I probably understand politics more than anybody and I understand everything in this country and probably in the world, because I read so much but I am not politically inclined. There is pressure sometimes to attend such gatherings but I don't succumb to pressure.
