John Abraham Feels 'Honored' To Be Compared With Aamir Khan

By making it two in a row as a producer who wants his content to do the talking, John Abraham managed to deliver with films as distinct as Vicky Donor and Madras Cafe. Keeping his 'babies' as 'non-Bollywood' as possible, John has seemingly followed the kind of strategy that Aamir Khan had initiated long ago by making films that were commercial but not conventional. Incidentally, Aamir as well as John took this decision after being around in the industry for a decade each.

"First of all it is an honour to be even compared with Aamir; he is way far ahead in the curve," John smiles, "I am just two films old as a producer. I would love to make sensible cinema and love to be known as an intelligent filmmaker. If Aamir is a benchmark then I am complimented for sure. Having said that, he is far more evolved. He is too established and I am too new and raw."

Still, those who have worked with John, either as a part of his production team or otherwise vouch for the fact that he is pretty much turning out to be the new perfectionist in town.

"Perfectionist? Seriously? Well, all I can say is that Aamir loves chess and so do I. I do get these perfectionist traits when I have to win that game of chess. On an even serious note, let me add that I have been a big fan of Aamir and the kind of supporter in the cinema he believes in."

That pretty much holds true since just like Aamir, who is bringing some offbeat content in an entertaining mode - case in point being Peepli and Delhi Belly - John too appears to be treading the same path with Madras Cafe and Vicky Donor. With a couple of more productions all set to go on floors which promise not to take the oft beaten path, John is aspiring to marry experiment with commerce, as has been the forte of Aamir.

"All that I do is very intuitive though. I have not tried to map mine to anyone's career. See, even in the past I have done Water, No Smoking and Kabul Express. Today a lot of people are re-visiting this film and exclaiming that waah, kya cinema banaaya hai. It is just that I have been saying the same things for years," John gives that dimpled smile of his before signing off.

Joginder Tuteja tweets@tutejajoginder