Action films are Bollywood’s new formula for instant success, with every actor worth his salt climbing on to the bandwagon in the last two years. John Abraham, tagged ‘Action Abraham’ by his fans, feels that the industry needs to further improve the quality of action. “What we need is a real action hero. I don’t mean a superhero or a guy who does unbelievable stunts while strung on cables. I mean action using physical strength; and I hope to fill that void. I hope I can justify the Action Abraham tag my fans have given me next year, with action-packed films. I have Race 2, Madras Café (his own production) and Shootout At Wadala. They will take action to another level.” John adds, “There are two kinds of action — where you are kicking around and people say ‘wow’, and the other, where you wear your underwear over your pants and say, ‘I’m a superhero’. That’s not the space I want to occupy. I want to do hardcore, raw action like Force (2011). You have a John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone’s character) and John McClane (Bruce Willis’ character in Die Hard), then why not a John Abraham?

Ask him about acting in multi-starrers, and if actors get insecure about their roles, he says, “I knew what my role would be when I signed Race 2. The film will excite people and my role is something I have revisited after Dhoom (2004). My character is out-and-out negative. As for competition, we all did our jobs, which we were clear about, so on the contrary, we had fun bonding while shooting.”