John Abraham is all geared up to bring his film Vedaa to the theatres on August 15 and, in the process of the same, is conducting promotional activities. He recently appeared on content creator Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast and opened his heart out on the issues he still battles even as a veteran actor with success written all over his life.
During the podcast, John reflected on how difficult it still is for him to take off with his projects. “I produced Vicky Donor. I did films like Madras Cafe and Batla House—yet, to this day, I have to convince studio heads that this is a different film and ask them to please fund my process. They still don’t have 100 percent faith in me, and they often tell me the budget is too much,” he said. Even though his films have been well-received and are also commercially successful, the truth still remains that John needs to work creatively and justify and fight for the mandated support for his films.
The actor also touched upon his pay package and explained the way he takes care of fixing his price for a film. “My fee as an actor is such that it doesn’t burden the film. According to me, if the film makes money, I will make money. “I don’t want to hurt the production. So, according to my standard, I make films. I’m very proud of my content,” said John. In reality, John takes a more practical view of his compensation in this way—making the financial success of the film the priority, rather than blowing out the base pay.
One of the interesting discoveries is that John cited his refusal to use WhatsApp; an extremely modern form of communication was the reason he is unable to communicate effectively with the studio heads. “I don’t have WhatsApp, so if I send an SMS to people, they often don’t respond. I don’t get a reply for a very long time. For instance, I texted a studio head, and he said he would circle back. That was 4.5 months ago, and he has not replied. I mean, I do not feel bad, but I feel I deserve a reply. I think if people had a little more belief in me, I could change Indian cinema even just a bit. “I would not say that I am a game changer, but I would like to consider myself trying,” he said.
John also spoke about his love for entertaining films with worthy topics. He claimed to be interested in making movies on geopolitics and definitely venturing into them in his future projects. “I want to make entertaining films and also pick up subjects in the space called geopolitics because that’s something I’m interested in. “To me, my next movies are really promising: depression with features such as Tehran and Diplomat, which are remarkable in their own right. Packaging them well and then showcasing them to the audience is what I do,” John said, wanting to fuse good stories with great themes.
Next in line for John Abraham is Vedaa, which sees him in a stellar lead, featuring Sharvari Wagh, Abhishek Banerjee, and Tamannaah Bhatia. The film will present an amalgamation of intense drama and action; it is directed by Nikkhil Advani. John, for sure, with his plans ahead not only as an actor but also a producer in developing new content, is in the right direction to spur the Indian cinema to newer vistas.
