John Abraham: 'I stay away from politics because I am apolitical'

John Abraham may have carved a niche for himself as a formidable action hero but his success graph as producer is far more enviable with critically acclaimed films like Vicky Donor, Madras Café, Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, and Batla House. He didn’t disappoint his fans with action films either as he tried to go beyond the usual in films like Rocky Handsome and Force 2.  Off-late, Abraham is enjoying the “geo political” and “patriotic” space and even as some of these films have landed him in hot waters, he doesn’t want to shy away from taking the risk of approaching lesser-known subjects.

In his next, Attack, Abraham will be seen essaying the role of a “super-soldier”. The storyline of the film revolves around John’s character, an army veteran, who while battling his inner demons, volunteers to become part of a governmental experiment to become a cybertronic humanoid super-soldier developed to combat terrorism. Excerpts from a chat with Abraham who has also doubled up as producer and writer, with debutant director Lakshya Raj Anand helming the action-thriller.

What are the origins of Attack? What is the inspiration behind it?

We wanted to make something very unique. The action has to have a unique selling proposition and we thought of a concept of a super soldier where there is no collateral damage to an Indian soldier. Attack becomes relevant this year. Talking about heroism and why I made this film, DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) is making exoskeletons for the Indian Army. This means we are making super soldiers to stop the collateral damage and loss of lives. Our DRDO is doing this and we don’t even know it. It’s out in an official statement. What I am making is something relevant today. We keep raving about Avengers so why can’t India make its own super soldier? I am not saying we are as good; I am trying to make a humble attempt to make India proud and I hope our industry and people support different kinds of cinema or else we will keep belting out the crap we are seeing, including me. We are all doing it.

Attack is an amalgamation of so many different films but it is a story that is unique to India, we haven’t copied another story. It is actually what is happening with the DRDO, so there is a lot of credibility. Even though we have made a commercial entertainer there is some factuality and actuality in the whole thing. It is our own story. Yes, there is a Robo Cop, there is a film called Upgrade, there is Universal Soldier, there is Iron Man…possibly we are inspired by all these but we wanted to create our own super soldier.

You have carved your niche as an action hero…

(Cuts) I think I have carved my niche as a producer who makes different films like _Vicky Donor, Madras Cafe, Parmanu, Batla Hous_e…I’m sure no one expected anything from Attack, until they saw the teaser. When people saw the trailer, they realised that there was a story here and something interesting. Action is second nature to me, but it only works if it is conceptually different or if there is a beautiful emotion attached to it. I would like for people to believe that when it is a John Abraham production, the content will be something different. If that doesn’t come across, then I am still battling that.

How confident are you about Attack considering this is not a regular mainstream commercial film?

Look, I am not in the business of hard-selling crap. I rarely talk about my films, for my own films I say if it has not turned out good. My director is very young, he is only 30 years old and he told me, ‘John, I don’t want people picking up their phone while watching the film. I want to make a film that is so fast and so different that I want them to be hooked’. Hopefully, we have achieved that with this film. This film has been made very differently. The music, sound design, set design, action direction was created first and then we went out and shot it. We completely reversed the process and it all fits together very beautifully. I don’t know commercially but I believe it would work at a lot of levels. This will be a game changer. I am not being over confident …this is not like your regular superhero films that have been released in India in the past. But when you do commercial masala films, you run the risk of completely failing, like I did. Or, you also accept the high side of it and know it’s going to (get box office success). It is like batting. If your timing is right, you can hit the ball out of the park. If it is not, then you completely fail.

Do you have plans of expanding Attack into a franchise similar to the Hollywood film Avengers, bringing in new actors and more?

It is too presumptuous, too early to talk about this. We have an idea and a concept ready, but we don’t know when we are going to start. The only reason we put part one, was because it was my decision. When I saw the film end, I felt it needed a sequel. At this point, we are only focused on Attack and we didn’t expect the reaction to be ‘Part 2 kab ban raha hai ?’ We want to develop it, but we have no actors or timeline in mind, just an idea. Right now, I am doing certain subjects that I have committed to, like my next is a film called Tehran, it is again in that geopolitical space and it is something very close to my heart, so it is very Madras Café, Batla House space. It is very heavy on beautiful content, very much in the Sicario meets Syriana space, very hard-core deep political thing but it has got its level of action also and it should be sensible.

What kind of research has gone into making Attack? And what were the challenges as an actor?

Research has been very intense, two years before it started and two -and- a -half years whilst it was being made. So, everything that I do as a producer is curated and researched. I have tried to make sure that the audience does not ask questions about what is happening. We are making a hyper real film and even in that space it should make sense and if it doesn’t then there is a problem. As an actor it wasn’t as challenging as it was as a producer. As an actor it is the space I really enjoy. I really enjoy action. I am working with some fantastic action directors who understand my body language.

Is there a conflict within yourself when you are both an actor and producer on a film?

No, not really. As an actor when you are producing it becomes sensitive to what is being charged, what is being put down, etc. Actors deserve to charge as well. For me, Rakul and Jacqueline are heroes of my film and they have contributed beautifully to my process. If there is a certain cost to it, they should be paid.

You are becoming the sort of modernized patriot, with films like Attack and Tehran, your next…

No… I thought Akshay Kumar was that (laughs). For me, India’s heroism doesn’t come from waving the flag. For me that is jingoistic. For example, India has abstained from the Russia and Ukraine conflict. I am not getting political. Why has India abstained? Because India is smart enough to understand that their oldest ally has always been Russia. America kahi par bhi ja sakta hai_,_ and can pull anything from under your feet. India has recognized that and for me, that is heroism. India should not get into the pressure to give a vote against Russia. I am not saying that I stand for the war. I don’t stand for war.

My idea of heroism is, for example, if Iran and Israel fight on Indian soil, I will go to their countries, hammer them and say don’t mess with Indians on Indian soil. For me, modern-age heroism is that space. I would not like to wave the Indian flag and say I am Indian. For me, modern heroism is showing where India’s position is in the world ecosystem and that a modern person will understand why India is the greatest country.

But like few others you are never seen rubbing shoulders with politicians, do you get invitations from them?

Yes, I do get invitations. But I stay away from politics because I am apolitical. I probably understand politics more than anybody. 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 but I don’t succumb to pressure. I don’t listen to anybody; I have a problem with my own producer who tells me to make this film but I want to make my own film.

Your film is releasing just one week after RRR, do you think the clash could have been averted?

Our entire team thought about this, we knew RRR was releasing a week before Attack and they felt the best way to release it was in the time zone we were given because we have a solo release in that week and we also have a two-week run till the next big film KGF (14 April) arrives. Also, the distribution of both, RRR and Attack is in the hands of the same person, so he could play it differently. He told me we can control and give you screens and it can be managed. We have been promised a good number of screens and hope for show timings.

How do you look at movie making? Is it business to you? How do you balance art and business?

I am a creative producer and when you are one you look at the subject you are producing first and then you cut the cloth according to the length. So, you make it within the budget which you think is conducive for the idea that you are making the film for. There is no conflict there, it is not like I want to make a very different film for Rs 100 crore. I will make it say in Rs 20, 30 or 40 crores, the price that it deserves to be made in. It is business as well but you marry commerce with content. You decide to make the film you want to and you still do the content you want to make. But I am shocked that even today studios still want to make the same commercial big proposals with me also…Rs 150, 100 crore budget films and I feel that either something is wrong with me or something is wrong with them because I am trying to promote different stories. I really feel that this newness should be encouraged.

What genre do you enjoy the most?

I love geopolitical space. If you tell me to go to Syria, or Afghanistan, or Iran to shoot, I will go and land there for six months. But does everybody in the audience enjoy that, maybe not. They want to see Housefull, Garam Masala…it is always important to have fun, everything can’t be about intense thought because finally you want to go and have fun with your family and which is why so many comedies work to a large extent whatever be the critical reviews. It is actually the toughest genre and there are very few actors who have aced that and one of them is Akshay Kumar. You just enjoy looking at him.

That brings us to the comedies where you paired up with Akshay Kumar…why don’t you do comedies?

I want to because just recently after so many years… after 12 to 15 years I saw the whole of Garam Masala and Race 3 with my office staff. I was feeling so happy and I started missing Akshay and I called him…We are planning something interesting in the comedy space but if we do a comedy for me it has to be like Kingsman. It has to be cool, he is not being funny but situations are funny along with high octane action. That will work.

You are producing quite a few regional films…

I have just finished producing a Malayalam film called Mike and I am producing a Tamil web series. I am looking at producing Marathi films as well. Content is far superior in Marathi and Malayalam cinema and that is for a reason. When you don’t have a budget then you use content as a crutch. You tend to think that I don’t have money so let me get a great story but the minute you have money you make shit content. It is really strange that content goes for a toss when you have money.

Six combat sequences with Shah Rukh Khan for Pathaan…you are just back from Spain schedule, tell us something on that

I can’t talk about Pathaan. I can only tell you that Shah Rukh Khan is a darling, he is lovely, you will be really excited to see him back.

Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff.

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