PicShik Blog

If sources are to be believed, John Abraham has been signed by Abbas Mustan for their next, a thriller. The director-duo met the actor and narrated the subject of their film.

Says a source, “Abbas Mustan have zeroed down on John for their next thriller, after Race.

Earlier they had approached Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Khanna and their all-time favourite, Akshay Kumar for the same role. But they couldn’t work out the dates with any of them.

Finally they approached John and things seem to be working out between them.”

Abbas confirmed that they had discussed the story with John. He said, “Yes, we did discuss our film’s subject with John and he really liked it.

We will take it forward once John is back from his shoot abroad. We both are looking forward to it.”

Shahid Kapur’s prophecy has come true after all. On Koffee with Karan he had said that Kareena Kapoor, who was his girlfriend then, will never be paired with John Abraham.

Kareena and John were set to work together in script writer-turned-filmmaker Rumi Jaffery’s next, romantic comedy.

We hear that John is out of the film now for reasons best known to the film’s producers, Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision.

A reliable source says, “It was quite unlikely that Kareena and John will share screen space. So, it is not surprising that John is not doing the film anymore.

It may be recalled that Kareena never got along with John’s girlfriend Bipasha Basu on the sets of Abbas Mastan’s Ajnabee (2001).

Kareena then made some unsavory comments on Koffee with Karan when she called John ‘an expressionless actor’.

A few seconds later, her former boyfriend Shahid Kapoor added to John’s wounds by saying that Kareena will never be paired with John. Not the one to be left behind, John had got back at Kareena on Koffee with Karan by saying that he would choose Rani Mukerji over Kareena.

“Incidentally, Salman who has seldom got along with John is Rumi’s close friend. All said and done, it was almost an impossible casting,” our source adds.

Rumi and John remained unavailable for comment. Parag Desai, official spokesperson of Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision said, “We don’t want to comment on this.”

The shooting of Karan Johar’s next production Dostana directed by Tarun Mansukhani and starring John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan is now complete, save for a song.
Tarun’s baby
Karan says, “Dostana is Tarun’s baby. He and the entire crew handled everything so superbly that I was worried. As a producer I was there in Miami for the first schedule for only two weeks. I was an unemployed producer. Dostana was the title of my dad’s (Yash Johar) first film and besides a sense of nostalgia meets emotion, my film and the 1980 Dostana have nothing in common. My Dostana is a love story with a fun twist.” The film ended on schedule and now only an item number needs to be picturized on John, Priyanka and Abhishek which we will shoot in September when Abhishek comes back from his world tour.
Do ka dhamaal
Director Tarun says, “Dostana is about three friends. It’s a cool, fun film which has emotional ups and downs. The trio play pranks and have fun together like all friends do.
It was great fun working with all of them. I  thought Abhishek, Priyanka and John would give me attitude being big stars; but they behaved like newcomers and said okay for everything. We finished shooting within 75 days. It’s a romantic comedy. Abhishek and John have an amazing chemistry they come across more as a couple than anybody else.”

John Abraham’s last hit was Dhoom (2004) and since then he has given 14 flops in a row. And if that wasn’t bad enough his Aashayein has been delayed again. The film which was earlier scheduled to release on May 9 and then June 20 has now been postponed to September 12.

Informs our source, “After the success of Jannat, we don’t want to take any risk by releasing the film in July and August. Jaane Tu, which is a love story based on college life is a much awaited film while Love Story 2050 has lots of special effects. So these two films will divide the audience’s attention.”

Adds the source, “Our film is very serious and John plays an intense role so to fetch more money from the box-office we have decided that finally the film will be releasing in September. Also, John is busy shooting for Dostana in Filmcity so he was not able to give time for the promotion of Aaashayein.”

Aashayein is the story of a compulsive gambler who faces a lot of trauma in his life as he suffers from cancer. The film is directed by Nagesh Kukunoor whose last hit film was Iqbal.

Bollywood actor John Abraham’s legal battle over the ownership of an entire floor in a building in the city has come to the fore with a glass company claiming before the Bombay High Court that it bought the property before him. Abraham purchased the 4,500 sq ft premises covering the entire fourth floor of new Prabhadevi’s Orbit Plaza in 2006 for Rs 11.5 crore. However, one Parekh Glass Company (PGC) has claimed that it bought the property prior to the Bollywood star and dragged him and Orbit Finance, the owner, to court.

An order by a judge of the court in March this year allowed Abraham to give out the premises on leave and licence on the condition that no permanent third party rights are created.

However, an appeal filed by the PGC against this judgement came up for hearing on June 11 before Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice V M Kanade, and was adjourned.

The Glass Company claimed that the fourth floor commercial space was sold to it two months before it was sold to Abraham in August 2006.

PGC claimed it had entered into a sale agreement with Orbit in June 2006 for two units on the fourth floor for Rs three crore.

The company argued that possession of the floor was promised in early 2008 but in January, there was an advertisement for sale of the same premises.

Despite the promise by orbit to allot similar area on the sixth floor bearing stamp duty tab, PGC refused and demanded the fourth floor back.

Abraham, however, has argued that he began his payments from March 2006 much before the other purchaser came on the scene.

John Abraham is a busy man. Off late, he’s been shooting round the clock, both in India and abroad. Then, he took to the mike for an event last week and showed off his singing skills. And just the other evening, he took time off from his schedule to come inaugurate Namita Kulkarni’s exhibition. The young artist, who’s been in touch with John since the past one year on the net, was overwhelmed when he agreed to make an appearance. And John seemed suitably impressed with the works on display too and commented on her paintings. Also seen was Aruna Singhal of Hum Paanch fame. Remember her?

John Abraham changed course from an actor to a singer on Wednesday, May 28, when he performed live in Bandstand, Bandra, in the Western suburb of Mumbai. The actor sang the song, Ab Hai Ujala, from his latest film, Aashayein, as the crowds cheered and girls were absolutely delighted.“It was simply crazy. I think we underestimated John’s pull and his pursuit of excellence. I thought he’d come on stage croon a few lines, shake his hips in tight trousers, blow kisses and melt into the night. No way,” told Elahi Hiptoolah, executive producer of Aashayein. John left the audiences spellbound after his performance, also, the director Nagesh Kukunoor joined him when audience compelled John to sing once more. “We hadn’t planned a big music launch and we certainly had no clue there was another music launch the same evening. We just wanted to do something different. So we thought of making all the singers including John perform their tracks from Aashayein live on stage. We never thought there would be such a massive turn-out, or that John would take his first live performance so seriously” she added.

It’s felt by most members of Nagesh Kukunoor’s Aashayein that this film would be John’s turning point as an actor. No stone is being left unturned to make sure John appears in the best light possible in this make-or-break film.In this context it has now been decided to move the prestigious Aashayein forward by a couple of weeks, possibly to July 4 which is the date for Harman Baweja and Imran Khan’s debut films. Says a source, “Aashayein is crucial for both John and his director Nagesh Kukunoor. Both were banking heavily on their last projects. John on No Smoking which turned out to be a no-show and Nagesh on Bombay To Bangkok which was a fiasco. Both the actor and director feel Aashayein would be a new beginning for them.”But for John family always comes first. And now that his brother’s wedding is days away he finds a lot of the attention that he would have ideally given to Aashayein is now being taken up by the wedding in the family.Says a source, “Since Allan’s wife is Romanian the wedding is in Romania. The arrangements therefore become doubly difficult. John’s parents are too old and frail to manage the nitty-gritty.Even Bipasha is shooting in Bangkok. That leaves John to supervise all the wedding plans. And Allan is his only brother. John wants to make it a memorable wedding.”It was therefore felt in the best interests of the film that the original release date June 20, be postponed by at least a couple of weeks.Nagesh Kukunoor’s associate and co-producer Elahi Hiptoola confirms these developments. “Yes, we did feel that we needed a couple of weeks extra, what with John’s brother’s marriage.So yes we’re moving to July, probably the first week. Aashayein is a film that needs careful nurturing. We don’t mind waiting a bit. But we don’t want the release to go wrong.”Interestingly John has no love interest in Aashayein. There’s a new girl Sonal Saigal to begin with. But the female lead is played by Anaitha Nair one of the Chak De India girls. John and she share an unusual equation, quite like Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Sarkar Raj.

John Abraham has turned producer and is also ready with his first music album, Koi Aane Wala Hai. Incidentally, he has also appeared in the first music video of the album.His production company is called John Abraham Entertainment Pvt Ltd. This is his first step into production and if sources are to be believed, he is all set to soon start producing films.Our source says, “John has been wanting to start a production company for some time now. He has launched his company John Abraham Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.After the album, John is in the process of tying up with a corporate house to make films as well. John enjoys a good will in the industry and has many friends as well.”Speaking about the album that John has produced with Pakistani band Strings, singer Faisal of Strings says, “We frequently come to Mumbai for our concerts.We have struck a good friendship with John from the time we did the Zinda song with him. This time round, when we were coming for our meeting with Sony, we met John for dinner.Obviously he wanted to hear the song and loved it. Bilal thought about the concept of an angel and we all agreed that John has to be the angel in the song.”He further says, “Since we needed someone who is a saleable star and also helps us distribute our music. That’s when John came in the picture. We all are excited to work again after Zinda.”John Abraham remained unavailable for comment.

Bollywood hunk John Abraham is all set with his first ever music video for the Pakistani band Strings. Koi Aanay Wala Hai is Strings’ latest album after a gap of four years. The basic concept of the video is, ‘There is an angel watching over everyone.’ John features as an angel who sights a beautiful girl in trouble. He falls in love with her and chooses to become human to be with her forever.The most expensive Indipop video ever, Koi Aanay Wala Hai has been shot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The music of the album Koi Aanay Wala Hai takes a lot of inspiration from contemporary British rock and music from 1960’s and 1970’s. It features eight energetic tracks composed by the duo Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood. Looking forward to the album, Shridhar Subramaniam, Managing Director of Sony BMG says, “We have been associated with Strings for over 5 years now and have released great stuff like Dhaani and Najanay Kyu. Now a part of this longstanding relationship is John Abraham with Koi Aanay Wala Hai and that’s truly a matter of pride for us. The music and the video are exceptional. So we’re very sure of a great response to this one!”