He came (to promote Goal), he saw (that it was faring well) and he left (a bunch of crazy fans still reeling from having seen their favourite star in the flesh)! Bangalore was not John Abraham’s only stop that day. Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad— all got a peek of this hottie. The secret of his energy, you ask? “My connect with the audience. Believe you me, it is nothing else! I just love interacting with the audience. I try and meet all of them... try and shake everybody’s hand. Cos’ I believe it’s about holding them… feeling them. It’s special. That’s where all the energy comes out of!” says he.

Excerpts from a one-on-one with one of Bolly’s most beautiful people today:

What has the response to Goal been?
Just two words… I’m overwhelmed and humbled completely. The only reason that I’m taken by surprise so much is that this seems to be more than what I got for Dhoom. It’s unbelievable, but the response is growing by the day, thanks to the genre of the film and the film that it is.

Goal has not been received too well by critics. Comment.

I don’t really… I mean… I’ll pass it off! Next question. (Laughs) It’s minuscule… it’s minor. It’s an audience film, it’s not a critics film, so I don’t pay much attention to them.

How much of a sportsperson are you?
I was an athlete in school… I ran... I played football. Of course, now that I’m doing this film, I just realised my dreams of fulfiling my sporting ambition which I couldn’t then, because at that point of time, I had to choose between sports and an education. And I think even today that you really have to prioritise and choose to educate yourself over sports. I went on to do my MBA even if I could have continued with football which I was playing at district level.

Biking and you:
I haven’t been giving much time to biking these days. That is the most painful and the saddest part of my life, that I don’t get time to indulge myself on a bike as much as I’d like to.

Since you’re talking biking, I must tell you that all the best bikers come from Bangalore. They come to Bombay on their bikes, win all the competitions and go back. Biking is a brotherhood... it’s a clan and I think that the brotherhood from Bangalore is rocking! I think they’re the coolest bikers in India followed by those in Delhi. I really really congratulate them on it! My only advice is “Be safe and wear a helmet”! That’s what I always do and I expect people to follow suit.

Current projects:
I’ve finished Nagesh Kukunoor’s film Aashayein. I have a film starting with Sriram Raghavan very soon. It is untitled and I don’t know who the heroine is yet. I just know that we start shooting mid December. It is a romantic film. I have either ridden a bike, played football or been a villain in Zinda or played a brash guy in Taxi No 9211 or a comedian in Garam Masala or a guy who is hopelessly in love in Jism, but I’ve never done a pure romantic film before and Sriram’s film is just that. It is a romantic thriller. And Sriram is very good at thrillers.

It is true that Bipasha and you faced racism in London during the making of Goal?

Not me, but definitely Bipasha and Arshad did. Someone just came by, passed some racist comments and hurled abuses at both of them. I wasn’t there and when they told me later, I said, “But it’s not possible. This is 2007! How does this happen in 2007?” And they said, “Well, it happened to us!"

Arshad and Bipasha were completely taken aback, but what I like about them is that they joked about it and were amused with the whole thing.

Roles that you want to associate yourself with:

I want to do a lot of roles for the youth. My strongest connect is the youth and they have always looked at me as a person whom they can identify with, mainly because of my middle class background. I don’t have film lineage and I believe that the audience is my godfather. They have always been there by my side, always held me in their arms, and always lifted me at any given point in time. They’ve been superb, so when you ask me about other factors like critics, I say “Critics, who?!” The audience decides my fate. My biggest strength is my audience.
The rapport that you share with the rest of the film industry.

Most of the people are really friendly and nice, but that’s it! No phone calls... I don’t meet them outside of work unless it’s a film function. My close friends are the ones I know from junior kindergarten.

How much time do Bipasha and you manage to get for yourselves given your busy shooting schedule?

In the recent few months, we have spent a lot of time with each other, but once my shooting starts, it’ll be ‘long time, no see’ all over again (laughs). But I think that it’s fair and square, because you need to work and you can’t be in each other’s faces all the time, no?

How do the both of you complement each other in your relationship?

Well, we’re two totally different people. Bipasha disconnects from work the minute she gets home, I take work back home. We’re different, but I guess opposites attract... which I personally, don’t believe in. I feel that you have to be like-minded!

Now for a rapid fire round:

Recent roles that you wish you had done: None

A decade from now, you will be: Maybe, still further up!

A fashion ‘No No’: Flowers on my shirt. Also the term and concept- ‘metrosexual’.

Lessons learnt from Bollywood: Do your own thing!

Your biggest competitor in the industry: I’m way down the ladder! (laughs)

(You can’t be serious!) I believe that I have carved a niche for myself and am doing my kind of cinema. My competitors are people who dare to do my kind of cinema.

Heart’s desire: To make a difference in a very large way. That sounded so ‘Miss India’! Freakin’ hell! (laughs)
But seriously, at present, I’m doing a little social work that makes a difference in a micro way. I want to be that big an actor or a star, in life, that I can influence people to do positive things in a macro way.

I believe that the world really needs to change in a lot of places that it hasn’t, and we may not really have the time to make the change ourselves, but if I could do it by saying something, then I wish I could do it!