Actor’s popularity not based on box-office collections, says John Abraham

While speaking to the media recently, actor John Abraham said that while the industry is obsessed with box-office collections, the audience does not judge an actor’s popularity on numbers alone.

The ‘Rocky Handsome’ actor said that he is aware a film’s success or failure depends on whether viewers are connected with it, but that is not in an actor’s hands.

“I believe if a film doesn’t do well, you have to understand it didn’t connect and if it does well, it connected. But there’s nothing you can do about it. I don’t think after a point people are going to judge your stardom or popularity based on those numbers,” John told PTI.

“Trade will do that, they like doing that. Let them do that. As an audience, and the rest of us, we have to just enjoy the film,” he said.

The actor, who made his debut in 2003 with Jism went on to star in films like Saaya and Paap, before getting a big breakthrough with Dhoom. Since then, John has appeared in successful movies like Dostana, Desi Boyz, New York and Madras Cafe.

The actor confessed that he never feels the box office pressure and continues to sign films based on their scripts.

“I don’t get affected by numbers. I really don’t get affected by the success or failure of a film. I only get affected when I sign the film, because that’s the time you should really be affected,” he said.

The 43-year-old will be next seen in Rohit Dhawan’s Dishoom, which releases on July 29. The thriller chronicles the story of two policemen, Kabir (John) and Junaid (Varun Dhawan), who go on a 36-hour manhunt to find India’s top batsman who is missing in the Middle East.

John says it was the buddy-cop genre which made him to come on board and feels there should be more films coming out in similar space.

“The buddy-cop genre hasn’t been explored in India in ages. I think the last time it was explored was more than 20 years ago and that also not in a full-fledged way. There was Main Khiladi Tu Anari at that point, but this is the first time we are seeing the genre the way it needs to be seen. I hope it works, not only for Rohit but for Varun and me and for the genre,” he said.