Back Metro Plus Bangalore Chennai Coimbatore Delhi Hyderabad Kochi Madurai Thiruvananthapuram
A new experience
| John Abraham on how films like “New York” affect him |
CANDID SPEAK John Abraham
Supported by crutches and his bodyguards, John Abraham limps. “I was hurt during the shooting of Hook Ya Crook,” he says, putting the crutches aside as he sits down. John’s New York was released last week to critical response. In this film directed by Kabir Khan — John’s second with Kabir after Kabul Express — he plays Sameer, an NRI Muslim in New York, whose equations with his friend and beloved Maya (Karina Kaif) change after he is detained following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
To play a Muslim boy, if he read the Quran, he also made efforts to see what went wrong in New York after the attack on the Twin Towers. “The most important thing that upsets you is that you feel like a prisoner, not only because you are a Muslim but also because you have inherited brown skin. The attacks may have begun on Muslims post 9/11, but they spread to Sri Lankans, Pakistanis and Africans. Reading the private research notes or meeting people whose families underwent immense mental torture during these times made me restless.”
True tales
Shooting for the much-talked-about nude scene apart from the water boarding torture scene made him realise how brown-skinned people live on the edge after the attacks on the Twin Towers. “I used to go to bed with a heavy heart and wasn’t able to eat properly. Especially after doing the water boarding torture scene, in which the undertrial is made to lie on a bed of water and hit from beneath so that water comes out of his nostrils, making it difficult for him to breathe. I have heard that detainees are put under water like that for five to 10 minutes. I couldn’t stay there for even a few seconds,” says John.
The actor also read the Quran to justify the role of Sameer and “to deliver dialogues convincingly. It cleared many of my own doubts too,” he says, adding he felt “sorry to see how Islam is being misinterpreted by a section and we all have to pay for their ignorance”.
The film has songs, dances and romance too. John believes that this doesn’t dilute the subject. “You preach and no one listens to you. You say it entertainingly and you get them hooked. You need to say subtly that such issues become a problem when prejudices come even in government policies,” he philosophises.
As an actor, if films such as Dostana keep him going, New York, Water and Kabul Express, John admits, come as “the reality check”.
RANA SIDDIQUI ZAMAN
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu