Hot Bollywood Actor : John Abraham

• Growing Up
  I am a Mumbaiite. I have lived in Mumbai (Bombay) all my life. I have grown up here, studied here. I’ve played hard and rough through my years at Bombay Scottish School and in college. I’ve earned the respect of friends and the love of a few women. I’ve had my bones broken a few times, and my heart broken a lot.
  
  As a student, I was just a bit above average, always in the top 15 in the class. I never had trouble with academics, but I was never a geek either. I captained the soccer team for Bombay Scottish for a while. I loved soccer, and would have loved to take it up as a career, but apparently, the universe had other plans for me.
  
  I was always an athlete. In school, my forte was the sprint: 100 and 200 meter dashes. There’s something tremendously exhilarating about rushing in front of everybody else in a race. Somehow, that rush never left me. I just do pretty much the same thing these days, except, on motorbikes.
  
  College was good. I did my BA (Hons) in economics. I also took up Taekwondo, under master Javed Khan. That was a stern exercise in discipline and physical toning. Javed Khan is a great teacher. I believe he took up an assignment in Los Angeles, teaching the SWAT force.
  
  After my BA, I went on to do my MMS from Mumbai Educational Trust (MET). I passed out of the course in 1998. I dare say, with still, no clue about what life had in store for me.
• Early Life
  I was a Media Planner at Enterprise Nexus. I wasn’t there long enough to find out if I would have been any good. But for reasons of argument, let’s say I was.
  
  One day, a model ditched the shoot and my boss suggested that I fill in for him. Well, maybe he knew what he was doing, because modelling was the last thing on my mind. Some time later at a party, I was practically propositioned by a woman to fill in her jeans. Well, not exactly, but it landed me a gig for the Live-In Jeans brand.
  
  After I did the Philips press shoot with Atul Kasbekar, one of India’s premier fashion photographers, he declared in an interview that I was the face to watch in the future.
  
  My big break came when I entered the Glad Rags Manhunt in March 99. I almost missed the deadline, but luckily, I was allowed in. I won Gladrags Manhunt and went on to compete for The Manhunt International in the Philippines. Well, it was a tremendous boost when I ended up as the first runner up in my first international modeling competition.
  
  After that, began a whirlwind of modelling assignments. I was signed on by Cary Models in Singapore and did a fair amount of work there, and later in Hong Kong, London and New York. When I returned to India, I had a substantial portfolio.
  
  For a while, I did music videos, which was exciting. You may remember my videos of Jhanjhar and Chupke Chupke by Pankaj Udhas.
• Advertising
  For the first time in years, I felt like I was home again. Back in India. Back in advertising, except as a model, not a media planner. I do remember those days and the people I worked with.
  
  In India, my first TV Commercial was for Cinthol. I was the first Asian model for Levis. At this point I was having the time of my life. I was one of the top models in the country and I was getting the plum assignments.
  
  By 2002, I was the highest paid male model in India. I remember the kindnesses and encouragement that I received from people in the industry, too numerous to mention. I have been lucky that way.
• Movies
  
  
  
  
  I didn’t fancy myself as an actor till I was plumb in the middle of it all. When Pritish Nandy offered me a role in a movie project, I was a little nonplussed. Although the project was shelved, it opened up a new door for me. I spent a lot of time watching movies and studying great actors to try and build a screen persona of my very own.
  
  In September 2002, I received a call from Mahesh Bhatt telling me that his daughter would like to make a movie with me. I was quite overwhelmed, since this was a starring role in a project that would be all my very own.
  
  The movie, Jism, was released on Jan 17th 2003. It immediately pushed me into the public eye. After that, I acted in a number of projects that helped me polish the little pebbles that I now recognize as diamonds today.
  
  Dhoom was a lot of fun. Mostly because I got to ride around on the Suzuki Hayabusa, reputed at that time, to be the fastest motorcycle in the world. I was hardly acting there. The thrill was all very, very real.
  
  By the time Viruddh came along, I was delving deeply into my abilities to find different things I could do and with the help of some outstanding directors, managed to create a variety of niches where I did my best work.
  
  My next movie, Water opened at the Toronto Film Festival, a humbling event as any I have ever seen. There were many rounds of applause for Lisa and me at the event, and I began to see the beginnings of a wider audience for Indian films. (I refuse the term ‘Bollywood’. I find it terribly subservient.)
  
  My last released film, was New York. It was a great film and was a huge hit, both in India and internationally. Right now, there are quite a few projects on the anvil that are about to break.
  
  Do watch my movies and I hope to entertain and surprise you in the future, as indeed I sometimes surprise myself.