Happy birthday, John Abraham: Lesser known facts about the Bollywood heartthrob
Happy birthday, John Abraham: On his 48th birthday, let us take a look into the enigma that is John Abraham. Here are some lesser-known facts about his life and work in the glamourous world of Bollywood.
From his early days of modelling and featuring in a music video for Jazzy B to his most recent portrayal of a police officer in Batla House (2019), John Abraham has proved time and time again that his place is invincible in the Bollywood industry. Having been compared to dashing actors such as Arjun Rampal, Rahul Dev and Milind Soman by photographer Atul Kasbekar, the film and modelling world were forever changed with his arrival.
As a celebration of his 48th birthday on December 17 and after almost 21 active years, let us take a look into the enigma that is John Abraham. Here are some lesser-known facts about his life and work in the glamourous world of Bollywood.
The name game
Born to a family with mixed religious and ethnic heritages, John derives his Malayali Syrian Christian roots from his father and his Irani roots from his mother who was from Gujrat. His Zoroastrian name is ‘Farhan’ but he was baptised early in his life as ‘John’. His name John Abraham is the reverse of that of his father’s name, ‘Abraham John’.
Like Father like Son
Before being swept up by Bollywood recruiters and adding fame to his name, John wanted to become an architect like his father and brother before him. He dabbled into media relations before his venture into modelling and worked in several media companies as a media planner and promotion manager.
Alma matters
Before his foray into the world of graduate economics, John was a student at Bombay Scottish School where he was buds with Hrithik Roshan, Uday Chopra and Abhishek Bacchhan. One can only speculate about what all shenanigans they got up to in their school years before they made their mark on Bollywood as the gang remains close friends to this day.
Puberty hit him like a …. well, you can see
Teenage life for John wasn’t all glamour and dalliances with friends. He had acne and spots on his face, just like every other teenager. But he soon grew into his stunning look and the result is this immaculate gem of a man.
Brains and brawn
Our Jism (2003) heartthrob checks all the boxes when it comes to education as well. Having completed his graduation from Jai Hind College, University of Mumbai, in Economics and his post-graduation as a Master in Business Administration, John is one of the most educated actors in the film industry. He is also a self-proclaimed nerd, passionate about technology and gadgets, to the extent where he even developed a mobile game ‘Velocity’ back in the day.
Boys will be boys
John’s love for automobiles has been evident since a young age, as he bought his first motorbike, a Yamaha Re 350, at the age of 18. Currently he has an Audi Q7, a Yamaha R1, Maruti Gypsy and a Lamborghini Gallardo LP550-2. He is also the proud owner of a super bike, The Aprilla RSV-4. No Bollywood fanatic’s wall is complete without a poster of John leaning against some super engine or the other! John is also the official ambassador for Yamaha and Reebok.
Survivor’s child
John’s father was diagnosed with cancer, which he fought and defeated. Despite being a private person, John has shared that he has always been in awe of his father’s strength through that difficult period of time and his mother’s devotion and caretaking.
Lover for the ages
John Abraham’s relationship with Bipasha Basu had been widely publicised despite him never offering any comments on it. The two were quite the power couple back in the day, before John and Bipasha both went their separate ways. Even before John ever came to be involved with Bipasha, he was in a short relationship with the younger Sen sister – Riya Sen.
When he subtly announced his wedding to Priya Runchal, he took the internet world by storm. Gossip mills have been sorely deprived of any insight into his private life as he likes to play it close to the vest when it comes to personal matters, but he has commented that his marriage with Priya is going well, saying, “All is superb in paradise.”