I’ve let myself go: John Abraham

The actor, who split with girlfriend Bipasha Basu earlier this year, confesses he’s now a changed man.

NEW DELHI:

By his own admission, John Abraham is a changed man. He is talking more, dancing more and is certainly more visible than ever before. With a slate of films lined up in the New Year, Bollywood’s quintessential handsome hunk hopes to find “inspired living”.

“I think I have let myself go. I have opened up and let my hair down gradually. So the change is evident, both in my personal as well as professional life,” Abraham told IANS in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.

The 38-year-old who split from his girlfriend of eight years, actor Bipasha Basu, earlier this year, was quite reticent earlier. But thanks to movie promotions, which required him to be in the limelight as well as meet and greet fans and the media, Abraham has come out of his shell.

This year has been significant for John as he had three releases — 7 Khoon Maaf, Force and Desi Boyz. If 7 Khoon Maaf won critical appreciation, the other two fared well at the box office. In fact, Force is being considered one of the actor’s biggest releases so far in his eight-year-old acting career, which kick-started with Jism.

“I am happy. This is the best phase of my career so far. But you never know how long this will last. With my present slate of films, I can look forward to ups and downs, but I would like to believe that I have a safe set of projects in my kitty,” said Abraham.

His visibility on screen and off screen will bump up next year thanks to his long line-up of films — I, Me Aur Main, Housefull 2, Race 2 and Shootout At Wadala.

Could the much-talked about sequel to Mahesh Bhatt’s Jism also be in the pipeline?

“Well, I can’t say anything right now. Bhatt saab spoke to me about the film, but I have been busy shooting. He spoke to me and said: ‘John, I’m planning something on it.’ But that’s about it. I have not even read the script yet; so I can take a decision only once I do that,” stated Abraham, who might feature alongside Indo-Canadian adult film star Sunny Leone if he is offered and accepts  Jism 2.

But for now, he wants to concentrate on the projects in hand, so that he can achieve “inspired living”, which also happens to be the essence behind home appliances and consumer electronics brand, Haier, of which he is a brand ambassador.

“Inspired living to me is self-actualisation — it is beyond the physiological needs of people. I would really like to believe that I lead an inspired life. However, I guess with the kind of lifestyle I lead, it’s a little far beyond for me to achieve that. But every day, I am trying really hard to attain it,” said the actor.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2011.