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John Abraham on the roll
By Priyanka Khanna, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS) "Gentle and romantic, also red hot and smashing. You're not just hot, you're on fire," is how John Abraham was described at a chat show. And the description could not be more apt.

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From a model who was advised by director Karan Johar to steer clear of films after winning the Gladrags Manhunt contest in 1999 to now being Bollywood's hottest sensation, John's phoenix-like rise is nothing short of a miracle.

And given that he has made it in an industry as close knit as Bollywood, the feat is even more commendable.

John's latest film - "Taxi No. 9211" - comes at a time when even the best of stars are weary of featuring in solo-hero projects. The highly promoted film is riding solely on the able shoulders his 6.1 feet well-sculpted physique, as far as attracting crowds is concerned.

The Milan Luthria film itself benefits hugely from Nana Patekar who has, as always, delivered a remarkable performance. John and Nana are cast in diametrically opposite roles that seem to be custom-made. The music by Vishal-Shekhar, who worked magic in "Bluffmaster", is like icing on the cake.

While commercial success came to "Parsi" (as Bipasha Basu likes to call him because of his Malayali-Parsi parentage) following "Dhoom", and phrases like sex symbol and Bollywood's man-of-the-moment have stuck, critical acclaim has not lagged behind. His subtle performance in Deepa Mehta's "Water" fetched him standing ovation at international film festivals.

The vast range of his repertoire is also impressive. While debut "Jism" was a skin flick; "Kaal" was a super-natural thriller; "Dhoom" an action flick;

"Viruddh" a family drama; "Water" an off-beat film; and "Garam Masala" a comedy.

Lucrative endorsements are swamping him with brands realising his broad-based appeal.

John, who used to joke that he entered films "to get back ad campaigns I lost to film stars", is the brand ambassador of Diet Pepsi, FastTrack, Samsung, Wrangler and Yamaha.

Even when he was struggling, he was bold enough to say no to Karan Johar when he was offered the role of Kareena Kapoor's boyfriend in the 2001 smash hit, "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham".

His very public romance with sexy siren Bipasha, his passion for bikes and compassion for animals have all added to the creation of an all-percolating urban superstar.

A trade watcher remarks: "The importance of being John Abraham comes not from his success in the glam world, but from his very real impact on urban sexuality.

"John, inadvertently perhaps, has taken on the mantle of being the representative of the sock-it-in-your-face variety of expressive sexuality that is reaching full-bloom everywhere."

"He is a symbol of the basic shift in attitudes to sexuality and the breaking down of gender divides in open expressive sexuality," says Ratna Golaknath, a behavioural expert and therapist.

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Models can act too!

Yet another sparkling performance by model-turned-actor John Abraham has titled the age-old debate over acting abilities of models in the latter's favour.

Not too long ago, models who tried to cross over to cinema were greeted with expressions like - "Oh, they are stiff", "Wooden!" "They have just one and a half expressions".

Remember how Deepak Malhotra was booed throughout his cameo in "Lamhe". That was then.

Today, Milind Soman is a successful actor-producer after his film "Rules - Pyar Ka Superhit Formula".

Milind, Dino Morea and Arjun Rampal are all raiding high. So what has changed?

Says Arjun: "All actors have flops. What is important is not to repeat mistakes. Besides, modelling today is not just about still photography. Ads on TV show a full graph of a story and character. Acting is part of being a model."

Dino feels the feeling that "models cannot act" is a myth.

He says: "A model is not given a role for his good looks. It is the job of the director to draw the best out of him. So many actors who are not models have had flops. It is a matter of chance and the cooperation of the entire team."

But for every successful crossover there is a Shahwar Ali who is stuck in the B-grade or an Upen Patel, who is sitting on the fence.

Despite the resounding success of John Abraham, Bollywood is still treacherous ground for the male model.

Like Mahesh Bhatt once said: "It is all about becoming part of a winning team. If you are unlucky you get together with losers and then somebody has to shoulder the burden. Who makes a better sacrificial goat than an outsider called the model?"

This battle between the outsider and the 'insider' is an old one.

On the one hand, several star kids, including Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Esha Deol and Rani Mukherjee, have proved themselves after being judged cynically in their first spell of performances, and on the other are successful outsiders including John Abraham and Riteish Deshmukh.

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Smith gives wake up call?

Will Smith's call for marriage of Hollywood and Bollywood makes one wonder what happened to the score of international projects that our filmmakers were engaged with not so long ago.

Wonder if Will's meeting with Bollywood directors will revive these forgotten projects like Mumbai-based Percept Pictures, which recently announced plans to co-produce Ram Gopal Varma's first "exclusively American" film, entitled "Within" followed by "Ek".

Then there is "Marigold", starring Salman Khan. The last we heard was that William Carroll, director of Salman Khan starrer "Marigold", has cast him in his forthcoming project, a "Wizard of Oz" remake aimed at teenagers.

Among the several India-US co-productions already in the pipeline, Manish Gupta's "Karma, Confessions and Holi" looks to be the one that will be the first to hit the screen.