Dinesh Kamath's movie column 'John Abraham is still ambitious' that was published in Newsband

Movie Column

John Abraham is still ambitious

By Dinesh Kamath

John Abraham started his journey with romantic thriller ‘Jism’, Jism (transl. Body) is a 2003 Indian erotic thriller film edited and directed by Amit Saxena, written by Mahesh Bhatt, produced by Pooja Bhatt and Sujit Kumar Singh under the banner Fish Eye Network [P] Ltd and Shreya Creations, which starred Bipasha Basu and John Abraham, the latter making his début in Bollywood films. The music for the film was scored by M. M. Keeravani. Jism ranked 92 in the top 100 sexiest movie scenes poll conducted by Channel 4. The film is essentially a remake of Body Heat, which was, in turn, loosely based on Billy Wilder's 1944 film Double Indemnity, which was a version of James Cain's novel Double Indemnity.

Jism had an interesting story. Kabir (John Abraham), an unhappy, rather poor, alcoholic lawyer lives a playboy lifestyle in Pondicherry. Kabir's best friends, Siddharth (Vinay Pathak), a policeman and Vishal (Ranvir Shorey), his colleague, try to keep him away from trouble. He meets Sonia Khanna (Bipasha Basu), the beautiful wife of a travelling millionaire, Rohit Khanna (Gulshan Grover).

They have a stormy affair and Kabir finds himself falling madly in love with Sonia. He suggests that she get a divorce, but she says that her husband is capable of killing them both. Sonia finally convinces Kabir to murder her husband and make it look like an accident. She also suggests that they should alter Rohit's will so that she inherits all his property. Kabir tries to reason with her, but she goes ahead and alters the will naming him as executor. Rohit's sister, Priyanka, tries to warn him that Sonia is only interested in money and has already killed Rohit's first wife. Siddharth, who is in charge of the case, suspects Kabir and is caught between friendship and duty. Kabir tries to get Sonia to leave the city with him. It is only when she sends someone to kill him that he realises that all she wants is the money.

Kabir confronts Sonia and she denies that she ever loved him. When he threatens to turn himself in and confess his crime to the police, she shoots him. He's wounded in the abdomen but manages to stand up. Sonia rushes to him as he stands and tells him that she has always loved him. They share a passionate kiss, and then the gun goes off in Sonia's hands. Her eyes flash open from the kiss and she starts to whisper Kabir's name repeatedly. It is revealed that Kabir had shot Sonia in the stomach as he lays her down on the sofa.

He then flees and calls Siddarth and tells him and Vishal to meet him at the beach. They meet Kabir who apologises to them and says that he just wants to see the sunrise one last time. As they watch the sunrise, Kabir has a vision of Sonia walking towards him. Kabir smiles to himself and then dies of his injury.

So that was movie Jism. John Abraham now plans to focus on his ambitious action franchise ‘Attack’. John Abraham has confirmed that he is working on the mother of all action films, Attack. He is planning to make a huge franchise and a never before action film in India. John revealed that they have already got the team on board and have also begun prep for the same. He will be leading the film and has also developed the original script. It will be produced under his production house banner, JA Entertainment.

John Abraham’s latest release ‘RAW (Romeo Akbar Walter)’ opened to positive reviews. Romeo Akbar Walter is a 2019 Indian espionage action thriller film written and directed by Robbie Grewal. It stars John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher in the lead roles. Initially, Sushant Singh Rajput was to star in the film as the protagonist but opted out of it due to his prior commitments. The film released on 5 April 2019. It has received mixed reviews with average ratings.

The movie got a good Critical response. Going by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has scored 14% based on 7 reviews with average rating of 4/10. Renuka Vyavahare of Times Of India finds the climax of the film audacious and gives three stars out of five. She concludes, "RAW has its moments but is rough around the edges. The climax is audacious and you need to suspend your disbelief, if you plan to watch it." "Overall, Romeo Akbar Walter is another interesting film from John Abraham. The movie has enough twists and turns to keep you intrigued and engaged. Go for it." says Gaurang Chauhan of Times Now and gives three stars out of five. Sanyukta Thakare writing for The Free Press Journal rates the film with two and half stars out of five and says, "You would expect RAW to be an action-packed film as much as the trailer suggested, but the film is more of a drama web series that documents events one after the other, throwing in unnecessary emotional, romantic and climax more than it is required." Devesh Sharma of Filmfare giving three stars out of five says, "Watching the film is like akin to reading a John le Carré novel. You have one set of mandarins squaring off against the other with pawns being sacrificed for future advantage." Taran Adarsh finds the film 'dull' as the thriller lacks grip. He rates it with one and half star.

He is also working on Nikkhil Advani’s ‘Batla House’, a biker film by Rensil D’Silva as well as a film on football titled ‘1911’. Batla House is an upcoming 2019 Indian action thriller film based on the Batla House encounter case that took place on 19 September 2008. The film is directed by Nikkhil Advani and starring John Abraham and Mrunal Thakur in the lead role. The film is set to release on 15 August 2019.

Actor John Abraham who is waiting for the release of his films Parmanu: The story of Pokhran and Satyameva Jayate, has signed yet another exciting project. The macho actor has teamed up with director Nikkhil Advani for his next film – Batla House.

In the film, which is based on the real life Operation Batla House terrorist encounter in 2008, John will be playing the role of a cop. The shooting of the film will start in September 2018 and the film will be shot in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Nepal.

Fifteen years after Dhoom (2004), John Abraham will be seen in an untitled biker flick directed by Rensil D’Silva. Produced by Ajay Kapoor’s Kyta Productions, the film will go on floors in July this year. A story around motorcycles is very close to John’s heart.

This is a story about human relationships. John decided to develop a film on riders and their love for motorcycles in-house two years ago. A lot of research and time has been spent on the subject since then.”

The film’s action scenes will be shot in Isle of Man, home of the International Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) motorsport event. Rensil D’Silva grew up on films like Days of Thunder and Top Gun and it’s a dream come true to make an adrenaline pumping, emotionally charged bike racing film like this with John

John Abraham's next 1911 will be based on a historic football game. John Abraham is back in the game with director Nikkhil Advani and producer Bhushan Kumar as the actor signs a six-film deal with the duo. The Satyamev Jayate actor recently announced the tie-up and under the collaboration, the first movie will be based on a historic football game, titled 1911. John had earlier worked in a flick based on football, titled Goal, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, which released in 2007.

John will be seen donning the character of Shibdas Bhaduri, who was the captain of the 1911 football team. The movie revolves around the same football team. The actor exclaimed that the period drama is not just a story about the captain or the teammates but the match has played an important and inspiring role in India’s freedom struggle.

The Force 2 actor said, “What makes 1911 special is that it is not just about the coach, the players or even the game, it’s also about India’s freedom struggle. Like with Parmanu, the idea is to educate in an entertaining way so viewers walk out of the theatre saying, ‘Wow, I didn’t know this!'”

The movie will mark Nikkhil Advani’s third collaboration with John Abraham, after Satyamev Jayate and Batla House.

The director has been wanting to make a film set in Kolkata, talking about its people, culture and heritage. 1911 is even better because it moves beyond Bengal to encompass all of India and its history. It’s a huge responsibility to tell this story right as it’s almost folklore to the people of Bengal as well as it’s so close to John. He hopes that he will do it justice.