John Abraham develops cell phone game, starts website

Mumbai, Feb 25 (IANS) John Abraham has got to be one of the busiest actors in Bollywood having started a website and developed a cell phone game as well as doing films of course.

Says John: "I have started my own website. In just 15 days there have been 1.5 million hits. It is unbelievable. Yeah, I guess for a guy who came from the outside I have come a long way.

"There are three kinds of actors - those that are industry-made, those that are media-made and those that are audience-made. I feel I belong to the last category. It's the love of my audience that's kept me going in spite of some of my films not doing well."

Except for Nikhil Advani's "Salaam-E-Ishq" and Ravi Chopra's "Babul", John says, he doesn't really have too many big-banner films on hand. "I have a lot of hard work to do. I feel I have a lot of limitations. And I need to keep working hard to overcome those limitations."

The other big happening in John's life is a cell phone game called Velocity, which he has developed personally in collaboration with his career managers Matrix and a company called Small Devices.

"It's something that I thought of. Sure beats the image that model-turned-actors have of not being brainy, huh? And now the game is ready. We have sent it out on a trial basis to consumers. And the response has been very encouraging. We'll launch it as soon as we zero in on a date."

John lights up at the mention of the wondrous 'W' word.

"I think 'Water' with Deepa Mehta was a learning experience. No one believed I could carry off the dhoti and the Sanskrit shlokas. Even I find it hard to believe. I am so proud to be part of a film like 'Water'... and to be part of an industry which has made 'Rang De Basanti'. I think it's one of the best films I've seen. Even 'Zinda', which did just okay at the box office, pushes the envelope."

He pauses to reflect on his career and adds: "You know when I came in I was the outsider. But no less than Mr. Amitabh Bachchan agreed to act with me in 'Aetbaar'. So I guess I didn't do too badly for myself. 'Taxi No 9211' smells good. I like what's on my plate."

Right now John's schedule looks crazy. For Valentine's Day he had to give Bipasha Basu's company the miss.

"I was in London. And she was busy shooting in Mumbai. This was the first Valentine when we weren't together. But she's a truly understanding girl. No issues."

The issue on hand is "Taxi 9211".

"You know when I saw the film I was blown. It's just 1 hour and 55 minutes long. And it's unlike anything I've done before. It's about two guys who are basically losers, and their adventure together. I think it's a film I am very confident about. The director Milan Luthria belongs to the Mahesh Bhatt school of filmmaking. And Mr. Bhatt has always been a favourite. Nana Patekar and I are such different individuals and actors... We had a blast shooting together."

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Taxi No.9211