After breaking stereotypes by producing challenging films like Madras Cafe and Vicky Donor and promoting sports, actor-turned-producer John Abraham is all set to use his star power to attract tourists to Arunachal Pradesh.
These days state governments are increasingly using celebrity power to make them effectively stand out and raise awareness about their culture and tourist spots. John says that he is fascinated by India’s land of rising sun and has always shared an affinity towards the state’s culture, history and scenic beauty. "I take it as a responsibility that the state has given me and I will ensure that there should be rise in tourist traffic to Arunachal Pradesh as it has all required aspects which a traveller looks forward to. Along with natural beauty, it has adventure sports and cuisines which make it a tourist heaven."
His bond with the North East can be easily seen through his various associations with the region. He owns the NorthEast United, a football team, and has motivated the eight states through his participation in "Run for North East", a marathon hosted earlier this year. "I think the north eastern part of India is often being neglected by rest of India which is a matter of great concern. People are lovely and there should be cultural exchanges as it has a great history and has stories, which need to be told," says John.
Be it Dipa Karmakar or Mary Kom, north eastern part of India has produced several talented sportspersons, and John agrees that there should be more names in future. "As a sports enthusiast myself, I will look forward to tap the talent, particularly in football as I own a team there and would like to bring in some infrastructure through proper channels," promises John.
As a producer, he has successfully married content with commerce by producing films with unusual topics like sperm donation in Vicky Donor and working with environmentalist Mike Pandey for an environmental project. "I do things to which I am convinced personally, and I will never follow the trend. I have a thought process of selecting the scripts on viable equation of content and commerce. For me making a film is creating content and I believe if some content is being created for posterity that should be the finest in its genre," reflects John.
As for his continued presence in action films, he asserts that there is a big fan base for action films in India but most of the Bollywood action films just offer action and songs as frills and the story is missing, which makes them less appealing. "We should try to make films with fantastic action sequences to give thrill to the viewers along with a good story so that the audience gets wholesome entertainment. Action sequences in the films can be believable for the audience if they are projected sensibly. I am trying to achieve that in Force 2 by backing a good story along with world class action content in it," sums up John
