Fitness is my religion: John Abraham

You generally don’t hurry to reach a celebrity event on time, assuming that stars are always late. However, a different scenario awaited us at the Reebok store at Jubilee Hills where John Abraham reached 10 minutes before the scheduled time for a meet-and-greet session.

Excited customers, mostly girls, couldn’t get enough of the star for whom Hyderabad is not new. He has been shooting in the city for his upcoming film Rocky Handsome for the past four weeks. Asked whether he had tasted haleem and done any sightseeing, “Give me a bowl of haleem with no meat and no oil, I’ll have it. I gave up meat 23 years ago,” laughs the fitness conscious star adding, “I have not had the chance to see the city because I train before and after my shoot. In the four weeks I have spent here, I have been to just one of the restaurants in the city.”

About fitness, John says, “For me, fitness is like a religion. No offense to any religion, but I feel everyone should make the gym their temple, mosque or church. The amount of time we put into religion, if we spent on fitness, we would be a very fit country.”

The actor-turned-producer says that he is past the age of running around trees singing songs. “Having turned a producer, I can choose better scripts now and want to do only content driven films.

No more five-songs-and-no-story films for me. Five years from now I won’t be acting with 20-year-olds. That said, I’ll also not do an art film for the sake of art or a commercial film for the sake of money,” he says.

So no more Dostana-type films anymore? “I wouldn’t mind doing a Dostana 2 because I really enjoyed Dostana,” he answers. And he has a lot on his plate right now. Films, a hockey team and a football team and next up is a motorcycle team.

“I’ll wait for two months before I confirm the news about the motorcycle team but yes, talks are on. I want to contribute to a sports atmosphere for today’s youngsters. In my time, I had to choose studies over sports and I often wonder what if I had chosen sports! My next film 1911 is all about football and it’s the kind of movie that can put an Indian film in the international arena,” he says.

John was spotted in one episode of Café Rio, the FIFA World Cup show, and had also faced some criticism online for it. “Five young kids going to the social media and talking about how it was, doesn’t really bother me. I wish they had spoken to me directly. I was on the show for one episode as I was the brand ambassador for FIFA,” he says.

“Life is good. Priya is in London finishing her MBA and then she has a few assignments in Los Angeles where I might join her,” says the recently-married John about life with his bride Priya Runchal. We ask him about the rumours of him getting a script from Rajamouli’s father, Vijayendra Prasad. “He is a very fine gentleman, and my partner and he spoke about a script but nothing is final yet.”

Any chances of appearing in a Telugu remake or a T-town film? “Honestly, I think the Telugu films are just too good and can’t be remade easily. You are really good with your work and I don’t think we will be able to replicate the same with perfection. As far as working in a Tollywood film is concerned, I don’t know the language and I’m not a star who’ll act according to cues. Moreover, you have brilliant stars here, what with the likes of Mahesh Babu, Prabhas and of course, Nagarjuna who is one of my favourites. I have seen a few Telugu movies and I think Rajamouli is a brilliant director and Prabhas has a very good body,” he says.