My career has been built on criticism, I enjoy it: John Abraham

Mumbai: Actor-producer John Abraham says he has often been written off in the industry in his over two-decade-long career but his audience has kept him going, something that he respects and wants to repay by telling good stories.

Abraham has hits in varied genres whether it is high-octane actioners like “Dhoom”, “Race 2”, “Satyameva Jayate”, “Dishoom”, and “Pathaan”; comedies such as “Garam Masala”, “Dostana”, “Housefull 2” or dramas like "Water", “No Smoking”, “New York”, “Madras Café”, “Parmanu”, and “Vedaa”.

The actor, whose next release "The Diplomat" is inspired by true incidents, said the film will, hopefully, resonate with viewers in the brightest way possible.

"People have, in the past, said that ‘Parmanu’ marked my 1.0 version because I’d disappeared for four years. These are obituaries that are written every day about me, and it's fine, I don't have a problem with it. My career has been built on criticism, I enjoy it,” Abraham told PTI in an interview.

"The only thing that's kept me going in this is my audience. People in the trade, producers, critics they all judge you by numbers and I get all that, and I respect that. That's business. But the only people that have kept me going and have made me survive is my audience. And I made 'The Diplomat' for that audience," he added.

The film industry had a terrible year in terms of box office and Abraham believes it is now important to focus on the basics that make any story click with the audience and that's writing.

“My vision as a producer and as an actor is just to create good stories and reach out to a wider audience. Do I want the numbers? I want the Rs 100 crore, 200s, 300s and the 400 crores. We all want that, but we want that with good stories. That's the difference.

“We as an audience and trade are putting too much stress into the bifurcation of how the money is being spent. We’ve to cut all this noise, go back to writing, go back to where we started from and why we wanted to make films."

Admitting that he also has been “guilty” of prioritising box office, Abraham said he now recognises the significance of well-crafted stories.

Citing the example of “The Diplomat”, the actor said it’s important that the movie, directed by Shivam Nair of “Naam Shabana” and “Special Ops”, attains commercial success as that will empower him and his team to continue making such films.

Inspired by true events, the film features Abraham in the role of diplomat JP Singh, who steps in to rescue an Indian woman named Uzma (Sadia Khateeb of ‘Raksha Bandhan’ fame) from Pakistan.

The actor said he was captivated by the script of “The Diplomat” from the first reading.

“I love geopolitics, so I thought this looks interesting, and I fell in love with what I read, credit to Ritesh Shah (writer). For me, it's about the story; it's immaterial whether you see a woman or a man in front. If the painting is beautiful, all the characters look beautiful,” the actor said.

One of the film's standout themes is the challenges faced by women in society, and Abraham said more awareness is needed to bring a change.

“Women, children and animals are not safe in India. I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep repeating it, till someone hears it. Children and animals are not safe because there aren't too many laws. With regards to women, you need to have strict laws. I’m not a law expert, so I’m not going to get into it.

"You go to the Middle East, Dubai, women are safe. There must be some reason why they are safe there and are not here. It stems out of education and awareness, there is a multi-pronged approach. We are a developing society; we will get there, but it will take us some time. But along the way, there is going to be a lot of collateral damage, and you see it every day.”

Preparing for the role of JP Singh required Abraham to immerse himself in the character, for which he said he undertook training from actor and acting coach Saurabh Sachdeva, known for his role in “Animal”.

“Shivam put me through a drill. We went through reading with the entire cast of this film. Then, I took a break and met Saurabh Sachdeva, who coached me on this character. For three weeks, I was with Saurabh every day,” he said, adding that he and Sachdeva met JP Singh to portray his body language and mannerism correctly.

“The Diplomat” is produced by Abraham’s JA Entertainment along with T-Series, Vipul D Shah, Ashwin Varde, Rajesh Bahl of Wakaoo Films, Sameer Dixit and Jatish Varma of Fortune Pictures and Rakesh Dang of Seeta Films.

The film is scheduled to be released in theatres on March 14.