“Some Movies Just Happen” – John Abraham In Conversation With Koimoi

John, the D-Day is all set to arrive and the promise made by Sanjay Gupta and Ekta Kapoor, who were willing to put their money on you two years ago, is all set to be realised. After all, your role has been pitched as once-in-a-lifetime. That must have been flattering, isn’t it?
After working with them, there is a thumb rule that I have realised for the rest of my life and that is to work with people who have faith in you. No more am I am going to engage with people who are just making proposals. Moreover the response to Shootout at Wadala so far has only further strengthened my resolve. Some movies are made and some movies just happen. This one’s the latter.

Guess you still haven’t forgotten the disappointment of your last release I, Me Aur Main, which went down due to lack of marketing and promotion.
(Pauses) I was completely let down on all departments. See, as an actor you have to take a jab on the chin as you are the face; I am okay with that. Still, I am sure that I would never make a situation like that happen again for me. A lot boils down to the studio you work with and if the studio does not have faith in you, it will show.

Well, talking about happier things, there is some camaraderie building between Anil Kapoor and you. After all, the pair of you were earlier seen in Race 2 and are now pitched opposite each other again in ‘Shootout….’.
(Smiles) Oh yeah, I totally love him. He is a good man. During Race 2 we spent a lot of free time in Turkey bonding. That continued in Shootout at Wadala as well. Throughout the making of the film, we knew that a Tsunami was waiting to happen with Sanjay Gupta at the helm of affairs.

There is a mini-tsunami happening though with Sunny Leone and you coming together for Laila. Guess that should keep the audience happy too.
Sunny and I simply love Laila. In fact, I have told her that going forward, a lot of people will call her Laila. Also, I have predicted that she will be performing the song in every function for the next one year at least; Laila has such great potential. Sunny, Tusshar and I really worked hard on the song.

And how is the hard work paying off in your pet project Madras Cafe? When do we see that on the big screen?
We are through with the principal shoot of Madras Cafe. We are gearing up for a 30th August release. Also, the film’s first look will be out in July. I hope that after the release of the film, we can speak out loud that even in India we can make films of international calibre and stature. The hero of the film is none other than my director Shoojit Sircar.

Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder