John Abraham: Not feeling victimised

John Abraham

Following the Delhi High Court's green signal to "Batla House", its lead actor John Abraham said on Wednesday that he would not look at the whole process as a victim. Directed by Nikkhil Advani, "Batla House" is inspired by the alleged police encounter in Delhi in the wake of the 2008 serial blasts. John essays the character of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, who spearheaded the operation.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru disposed off the plea after filmmakers agreed to make changes in the disclaimer and modify/delete scenes that were objected to by the petitioners. The plea, filed by Ariz Khan and Shehzad Ahmad, both accused in the Batla House encounter case, is likely to come up for hearing next week. The petition sought a direction to the Centre for pre-screening of the film.

The petition stated that the movie's poster and promotional videos claimed that the sequence of events in the movie was inspired by true events, which created the impression that the film depicted the true account of the Batla House encounter. Sharing his thoughts on this, John told the media, "If you have a point of view or you want to raise an issue, you must, because democracy is all about that. We (filmmakers) are on a platform where people might ask us a question and we should be ready with the answers. I would not look at it as a victim...no, we are not getting victimised here except for social media trolls where nameless, faceless people are there and trolling." John was also joined by Advani and producers Madhu Bhojwani and Monisha Advani.

The filmmakers would also beep/mute the word "mujahid" in the confession scene, remove the real image of the DCP at the end of the movie to justify the amended disclaimer. A bomb-making scene will also be deleted from the film. Asked if the changes will create any impact on the film, John replied: "It will not create a lot of difference from the audience's point of view because I have watched the film, before and after the changes were made."

John had started his career as a supermodel before entering Bollywood. He was generally praised for his good looks rather than his acting skills. However, in the last few years, with his choice of films like "Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran" and "Satyameva Jayate", it seems like he is trying hard to change his image. Asked how he looks at the change, John quipped: "As long as I am still handsome, the acting tag is fine."

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