John focuses on action roles now

MUMBAI - After the debacle of “Jhootha Hi Sahi”, Bollywood’s pin-up star John Abraham has decided to focus on mainstream roles. He is currently toning muscles for Hindi remake of Tamil blockbuster “Kaakha Kaakha”.

With his last two films “Ashaayein” and “Jhootha Hi Sahi” not doing well, you would think John’s producers are in the process of a serious re-think. Far from being discouraged, the makers are in the process of enhancing the original material.

Director Nishikant Kamat remains unfazed by the performance of John’s films.

“My producer Vipul Shah and I signed John for the ‘Kaakha Kaakha’ remake because we saw him doing the action hero’s part to perfection. So far, no film has tapped that side of him. John will be performing some of the most dangerous stunts ever seen in our film,” he said.

John, 37, has right now halted the shooting of key action sequences in his first full-fledged action film. Apart from Bollywood’s best action director Allan Amin, he has also asked for an action team from South Africa to supervise his stunts.

Confirming this, Kamat said: “We’ll do the action scenes later. I cannot do those loud larger-than-life stunts sequences where the hero beats up 20 adversaries single-handedly.”

“The action in my film has to be in the more realistic yet hardcore commercial space. It’s a challenge for both me and John. For me, commercial cinema is new. I’ve butterflies in my stomach every time I go on the sets,” he added.

A source close to John says it’s goodbye to experimental characters for the actor.

No more playing against personality for John. No more nerdy or dying characters. It’s muscles and beefcake all the way as the pinup boy acquires an adrenaline-pumping chest-thumping image for his next, said the source.