In a career spanning close to two decades and around 50 films, John Abraham by his own admission is now in a “2.0 phase. ” The actor whose career has been a mix of commercial entertainers and content-driven projects, says that as an actor, he only craves for respect from the audience. Excerpts:

Apart from massy films like Housefull 2, Welcome Back and Pagalpanti, John has done his share of hatke films like Madras Cafe, Batla House and Parmanu. Was he worried about the commercial feasibility of these projects?

John says, “You have to ask yourself, what do you want in life? Do you want money or respect? I want respect. Madras Cafe did average business, but the respect I got after doing the film is what I crave for as an actor. I hold my self completely responsible for the choices I made. If a film fails, I don’t shift the blame to the director.”

John who’s dabbled in comedy films and has also done patriotic films in the recent past, claims he doesn’t have a favourite genre. “By doing films about the Armed Forces, I am not aiming at a cult following. I try to be part of a film that is exciting for the audience, but the actual intent is to make a good film that would make me happy.”

While John has always been a Hindi film hero, he has also been associated with regional cinema. In 2018, he produced the Marathi film, Savita Damodar Paranjpe and now plans to foray into producing Gujarati films.

The actor who is conversant with the language, owing to his Parsi background, says, “I don’t want to produce just Gujarati films, but also OTT series in the language. I feel that currently, three regional industries in India are producing the best content — Marathi, Malayalam and Gujarati. Of course, this process is cyclical and other regional industries also throw up good content. For example, Assamese and Bengali industries, among others, have also produced great content and they are still doing so. I speak Gujarati and understand Gujarati, it’s my matrubhasha in a way, as my mother is a Parsi.”

John was part of Dhoom, which brought biking culture into focus, and he has also done many high-octane stunts in his films. In real life, too, he is passionate about bikes, but so far we haven’t seen him back a film where hot two-wheelers or cool cars take centre stage.

He says, “I have always wanted to produce a film on bikes and cars. In fact, I had even planned a film in 2019-20, but due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we had to stall the plan.”

Now that things are back to normal, John and his team are working on getting permission to shoot on the Isle Of Man, a small island nation between Britain and Ireland, for a project revolving around bikes.

John, who has done a few commercially successful films with Akshay Kumar, insists that he misses working with the latter. “I love working with Akshay. I miss working with him and I know that our professional equation and comic timing match and that’s how we’ve pulled off films like Garam Masala, Desi Boyz and Housefull 2. If there are two heroes who look good on screen together, because their chemistry is so seamless and realistic, it’s Akshay and me. We share a genuine bond beyond our films, and all that just translates onto the screen. Of course, I am looking for an excuse to reunite with him on screen. I believe he’s very busy now, but I’m going to pull him out and work with him soon.”

John Abraham’s ripped body and fitness regimen have inspired people for years. Talking about his fitness regimen, John says, “I am very disciplined, I do not have many cheat days. I haven’t touched white sugar in over 30 years now and if it was introduced to the world in the 21st century, it would have been a banned substance, that is the kind of harm it does to a body. I don’t smoke, drink alcohol or aerated drinks. I am a vegetarian. I want to be fit 365 days of the year and I do not want to transform for a particular film. I want to set the right example for my fans.”