By Hindustan Times
Before he became an A-list actor with hits like Dostana (2008), Force (2011) and Desi Boyz (2011), John Abraham was a supermodel, featuring often in commercials. And despite being in the industry for several years now, the actor still feels more comfortable shooting for advertisements than
films.
“As I was a model earlier, I am rather used to doing commercials than doing films,” says John, who recently shot a commercial for Skybags, which he endorses. Apart from that, he is associated with a number of brands and is constantly shuttling between commercials and films. Now, he’s arrived at the conclusion that making a commercial is more challenging than acting in a movie, given its limitations.
“It’s more challenging than acting in films as it demands a convincing performance under strict parameters and within a stipulated time,” explains the dimpled actor.
In his 10-year acting career, John has showcased an array of emotions through his characters, and has enjoyed enough liberty to improvise as far as he can — a liberty he doesn’t get when facing a camera for a commercial.
“In advertisements, we are the agency’s babies. They come down with an idea and are very strict on how they want to shoot it. An actor can improvise only within that limit,” says John, who made his acting debut in Jism (2003) along with ex-flame actor Bipasha Basu.
He elaborates that telling a whole story in a stipulated span of 30 seconds also decreases the limit of playing around with the character. “Here, we get very little time to tell the whole story, whereas in films, we get at least two hours to show the progression of the character,” says John, who is currently shooting for Sanjay Gupta’s Shootout At Wadala, where he plays the role of Manya Surve, a dreaded gangster of the ’80s, who died in the first ever encounter between the police and the mafia, which took place in Mumbai.
