John Abraham said that his upcoming film “Romeo Akbar Walter” is not a chest-thumping nationalist project and he himself would like to stay away from jingoistic movies. Directed by Robbie Grewal, the espionage thriller chronicles the story of a spy who goes to Pakistan.
“It’s very important to make films with good stories. If tomorrow, there’s a great patriotic film, I would love to do it. But I would not like to do jingoistic films. I am not anti any other country, I am not anti any other religion. I’m very pro-secular and I would like to make films that reflect the true nature of this country,” John said.
John Abraham said action needs to be taken against terrorism instead of waging a war against a country or religion. “There has to be a war against terror (ism) and not against a country or any religion. I am very clear with my outlook on that. I am not one of those actors who will say that ‘People will like this, so let’s do it’. I say things as it is. These days, polarization is happening and that is dangerous,” John said.
The actor said the film looks at people from an objective gaze and doesn’t colour anyone with judgements. “It’s a very objective film. No one is bad or good in this, it’s just how you look at things. We are not depicting any other side as the bad side. It’s a story of a spy who goes across, but it’s a different story than ‘Raazi’ or many of the other stories. It’s not jingoistic, typical flag saluting film. It’s very different and that’s why we are proud to be associated with it.”
John said the project’s key requirement was “extreme research” and the team did just that as it’s a sensitive topic and there’s a sense of responsibility riding on them. The actor, however, said there’s nothing wrong in making films about war heroes. “If you look at Hollywood, it makes fantastic war films and they glorify their soldiers, so why can’t we? I think it’s a great time for India, the audience.”
At the event, John also shut down a reporter when he asked the actor will “tempt” people through the film to take action, after the Pulwama attack. The actor said, “You have to be very careful with the way you ask questions, you have a responsibility. Please apologise to everyone.”
