He is known for the high-octane action in his films. However, John Abraham doesn’t want to confine himself to any genre. In fact, he says that he doesn’t consider himself just an action hero. He gives the credit to his directors, saying that he merely follows their instructions, believes in their vision and surrenders himself.

He shares, “I don’t have an image of myself. I am a director’s actor. If my director tells me to do something, I don’t question and tell him that it does not go with my image, and I may need to do it in a particular way. I am like clay that can be moulded by my director the way he wants to. I don’t look at myself as an action hero. The audience expects that from me and since I enjoy the action space, it works for me.”

While he prefers to follow his director’s word to the T as an actor, as a producer he is experimental and innovative. He says, “My success rate as a producer is far higher (smiles!). I am a thinking producer. I know my line-up and what I am delivering as a producer. As an actor, I often leave a lot of what I can possibly do to another producer and the director and then hope that I have done my best.”

Given the record of the films that he has backed over the years, John admits that he is braver as a producer. “Vicky Donor was a first of its kind and everybody expected me to lap up its success with an instalment, but I made Madras Café. It was a different film again. You have to be brave. In business, there is a saying, ‘The higher the risk, the greater the profit.’ If you don’t take the risk, you won’t reap the benefit. What’s the worst that can happen? At the most, you will fail. I have failed more often than not. So, I am not scared of failures and have always looked at that as my biggest positive. In fact, it is good to fail, as it pushes you. If I come with baggage that I have to succeed every time and my first-day box office has to be in crores, then I will get into a rut. I am happy where I am… happy to be starting from ground zero,” he concludes.