...says John Abraham who, unlike his contemporaries, won’t be hiking his price, now that Welcome Back is a success
Unlike other heroes who immediately raise their fees after a hit, John Abraham has decided to stick to his original price. No fee hike, we ask “None at all. I’ve never done that. I was getting what I thought I deserved before Welcome Back. So why would I expect more now My price doesn’t rise and fall Friday to Friday. We are actors, not vegetables. In fact, if given a chance to do something out of the expected, I might lower my price for the sake of uniqueness. Surprising myself and the audience has always been important for me. At a time when I was advised to build my commercial equity I worked in offbeat projects like Water and No Smoking,” says the actor-turned-producer.
The hunky actor did surprise many when he chose comedy as a genre for the first time. He shares, “I learnt a lot about comic timing from Akshay during Garam Masala and Desi Boys, and from Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar in Welcome Back. I had worked with both Nana (in Taxi No 9211) and Anil (Shootout At Wadala) before. Moreover, what made Welcome Back a great delight was the stellar cast — Nana, Anil, Dimple, Paresh Rawal I felt like I was in acting school.”
John has special words of praise for Anil. “More than anyone else, it was Anil who saw Welcome Back to the finish. He treated it like his own production. I’ve learnt so much from observing him. You asked me about raising my price. But I’d rather see everyone associated with Welcome Back doing well. For me every film is a team effort. My needs are simple. I don’t need that much money.”
Being a producer himself, John understands the need for budgetary discipline. “I don’t think my job ends with giving my shot. Seeing the film to release is every actor’s responsibility.” He is also looking at renewing his bandwidth as a producer. “I’ve produced films with Shoojit Sircar and we’ll be working on something else very soon. We’ve several ideas in mind,” he says even though the football film 1911 with Shoojit may not happen immediately. John adds, “Shoojit is a nice guy, and we both delivered surprise hits this year. Shoojit’s Piku was never expected to be so big. Welcome Back also seems to have gone beyond expectations.”
