Fame came to me much later: John Abraham

John Abraham's hunky looks have made more news than the roles he has played onscreen and the former model feels that's the reason he did not get the fame he deserved as an actor.

John, 40, who entered the film industry with Bipasha Basu starrer 'Jism' in 2003, said he was a rising star in the fashion world when he got his first break in Bollywood and so, people initially failed to explore him as an actor.

"Fame came to me much later. I have been in the industry for the past 10 years and you can say that it is only now that I am being talked about for my films. I got a different treatment because I entered the industry as a model," John told PTI.

The 'New York' star said his good looks helped him garner a large fan base but it was much later that he was offered performance oriented roles.

"I knew from the beginning that there will be a lot more emphasis on my body and looks than anything else. But, that was fine for me. I developed a huge fan following because of my looks. Still, I got roles slowly from people who believed in me, be it Sanjay Gupta, Shoojit Sircar or Kabir Khan. I am getting films now which are all performance oriented. My graph is on the rise now," John said.

The actor will be seen in a series of films this year, beginning with Abbas-Mustan's trailer 'Race 2' releasing today, where he will be seen portraying the main villain. John says the film reminds him of his first hit 'Dhoom'.

"'Race 2' is a different film. It's typical Abbas-Mastan film. Barring Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor, all the characters in the film are absolutely new. Every character has grey shades. The film reminds me of 'Dhoom'. It is pretty much in that space minus the bikes," he said. @Body:

John will next be seen in Gupta's gangster drama 'Shootout At Wadala', Sircar's 'Madras Cafe' and romantic drama 'I, Me, Aur Main' by a debutant director.

"It's fun to shoot so many films together. People are worried about me because I force myself to space things out. My mind is not left with any grey space. It is a conscious decision to do different genres because I love to do different films. I am not one of those, who like sticking to the regular roles," he said.

John, who changes his physique with every film, said portraying a different look each time has taken a toll on his body.

"Changing your physique for every film is very taxing. Your body takes a blow everytime. I like to do my stunts myself and have hardly used any body double. But maintaining this action-hero image hurts a lot. You always face some injuries or the other," he said.

The actor turned producer with 'Vicky Donor' last year and his maiden production has been received very well by the audience. He says it was important for him to turn producer so that he could churn out strong but commercially viable films.

"It was important for me to become a producer because the kind of films I wanted to do and the kind of content I wanted the industry should have was coming out less. I am trying to marry content with commerce," he said.

The actor is currently producing three films under his production house, John Abraham Entertainment.