John Abraham - "If I don't encourage newcomers then who will"

2013 was a wonderful year for John Abraham. After a 100 crore hit Race 2, he went on to enjoy his biggest solo hero film Shootout at Wadala. Though I, Me aur Main couldn't cover any distance, he gained some added reputation and also earned good moolah with his Madras Cafe. For someone who wasn't given much of a chance when he started a decade back with Jism, he managed to make quite a few strides.

However, instead of signing more films in a flurry, John decided to go a tad slow when it came to his acting assignments. Instead, he decided to expand his production prospects as a result of which he has number of films in the pipeline, many of which stars either newcomers or upcoming actors who carry a potential to make it big in the industry.

As a result, while 2014 would see only one film of his release as an actor (Welcome Back), there are several interesting productions in the pipeline, one of which is Banana.

Smiles John, "I like it when people tell me that even though you are so young, you are trying to bring in a change. People ask me how come I am so confident about roping in newcomers but then I feel that if I don't encourage newcomers then who will? Even I was a complete newcomer when I started and an outsider as well. People showed trust in me. Today if I can be a flag bearer of change then let me respect that tag."

From the maker of Vicky Donor and Madras Cafe, expectations are that of some hatke, yet commercial cinema.

"People know that I am institutionalizing alternate cinema and making it commercial. In fact someone even told me that 'Now we have a new 'John-re' (genre) of films. For me that came as the biggest compliment," says John with a reassuring smile before signing off.

Joginder Tuteja tweets@tutejajoginder