Growing Up
I am a Mumbaiite. I have lived in
Mumbai (Bombay) all my life. I have grown up here, studied here. I’ve
played hard and rough through my years at Bombay Scottish School and in
college. I’ve earned the respect of friends and the love of a few women.
I’ve had my bones broken a few times, and my heart broken a lot.
As a student, I was just a bit above average, always in the top 15 in
the class. I never had trouble with academics, but I was never a geek
either. I captained the soccer team for Bombay Scottish for a while. I
loved soccer, and would have loved to take it up as a career, but
apparently, the universe had other plans for me.
I was always an athlete. In school, my forte was the sprint: 100 and 200
meter dashes. There’s something tremendously exhilarating about rushing
in front of everybody else in a race. Somehow, that rush never left me.
I just do pretty much the same thing these days, except, on motorbikes.
College was good. I did my BA (Hons) in economics. I also took up
Taekwondo, under master Javed Khan. That was a stern exercise in
discipline and physical toning. Javed Khan is a great teacher. I believe
he took up an assignment in Los Angeles, teaching the SWAT force.
After my BA, I went on to do my MMS from Mumbai Educational Trust (MET).
I passed out of the course in 1998. I dare say, with still, no clue
about what life had in store for me.Early Days
I was a Media Planner at Enterprise-Nexus, an ad agency in
Mumbai (which is now part of the WPP Group). I wasn’t there long enough
to find out if I would have been any good. But for reasons of argument,
let’s say I was.
One day, a model ditched the shoot and my boss suggested that I fill in
for him. Well, maybe he knew what he was doing, because modelling was
the last thing on my mind. Some time later at a party, a woman was
pleasantly lewd enough to metion that I filled up my jeans quite nicely.
What with one thing and another, I landed a gig for the Live-In Jeans
brand.
After I did the Philips press shoot with Atul Kasbekar, one of India’s
premier fashion photographers, he declared in an interview that I was
the face to watch in the future.
My big break came when I entered the Glad Rags Manhunt in March 99. I
almost missed the deadline, but luckily, I was allowed in. I reached the
finals and went on to compete in the Philippines. Well, it was a
tremendous boost when I ended up as the first runner up in my first
international modelling competition.
After that, began a whirlwind of modelling assignments. I was signed on
by Carrie Models in Singapore and did a fair amount of work there, and
later in Hong Kong, London and New York. When I returned to India, I had
a substantial portfolio.
For a while, I did music videos, which was exciting. You may remember my
videos of Jhanjhar and Chupke Chupke by Pankaj Udhas.
Advertising
For the first time in years, I felt like I was home again. Back
in India. Back in advertising, this time, as a model, not a media
planner. I do remember those days and the people I worked with.
In India, my first TV Commercial was for Cinthol. I was the first Asian
model for Levis. At this point I was having the time of my life. I was
one of the top models in the country and I was getting the plum
assignments.
I remember the kindnesses and encouragement that I received from people
in the industry, too numerous to mention. I have been quite lucky that
way...
Movies
I didn’t fancy myself as an actor till I was plumb in the middle
of it all. When Pritish Nandy offered me a role in a movie project, I
was a little nonplussed. Although the project was shelved, it opened up
a new door for me. I spent a lot of time watching movies and studying
great actors to try and build a screen persona of my very own.
In September 2002, I received a call from Mahesh Bhatt telling me that
his daughter would like to make a movie with me. I was quite
overwhelmed, since this was a starring role in a project that would be
all my very own.
The movie, Jism, was released on Jan 17th 2003. It immediately pushed me
into the public eye. After that, I acted in a number of projects that
helped me polish the little pebbles that I now recognize as diamonds
today.
Dhoom was the most fun I’ve had with my pants on. Mostly because I got
to ride around on the Suzuki Hayabusa, reputed at that time, to be the
fastest motorcycle in the world. I was hardly acting there. The thrill
was all very, very real.
By the time Viruddh came along, I was delving deeply into my abilities
to find different things I could do and with the help of some
outstanding directors, managed to create a variety of niches where I did
my best work.
My next movie, Water opened at the Toronto Film Festival, a humbling
event as any I have ever seen. There were many rounds of applause for me
and the rest of the cast at the event, and I began to see the beginnings
of a wider audience for Indian films. (I refuse the term ‘Bollywood’. I
find it terribly subservient.)
-johnabraham
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