Don’t be surprised if you soon see John Abraham looking like an army commando. The actor is training hard — for five hours daily — to fit into the role of an action hero in his next movie. The movie, to be directed by Nishikant Kamat of Mumbai Meri Jaan fame, requires John to look lean and fit like an army commando. For this the actor is learning various kinds of martial arts from ex-armymen.
John says, “As an actor you have to push your body according to the character that you are set to play. Nishikant’s movie is a thorough entertainer and an action film. I don’t like others to do my stunts because I have had great fun whenever I have done them myself. So, when Nishikant told me that he wanted me to do stunts that would be physically challenging, I realised that I would have to shed some weight and get lighter and leaner so that I don’t risk injuring my body while executing those difficult action sequences.”
John doesn’t want to give out exact details of his training programme because he has been asked by the producers not to speak about this. He just says, “It is a gruelling session nonetheless where I have to train my body as well as my mind to take the pressure of pulling off the stunts.”
We also asked John, who is a fitness freak, to tell us if changing his body type for every film has led to any complications. He says, “If you are not careful, it can be disastrous. These days actors are ready to experiment and they indeed are changing body types in almost every single movie. Look at me in Aashayein; I lost over 12 kilos, became thin and then I had to gain weight just after that for my other projects.”
So what precautionary measures did he take? “I made sure that I ate right and my calorie intake was balanced. I had a lot of health food. It is important not to cut down on your energy, protein and other essential body intake or else you will definitely fall sick. For the body suddenly reducing and gaining weight is abnormal,” he ends.