John Abraham to shed 17 kgs for football biopic

Actor-producer John Abraham is experimenting with his looks in '1911', a sports biopic on footballer Sibdas Bhaduri, where he will be seen in a leaner avatar.
The 41-year-old soccer enthusiast, who is currently 92 kgs, will transform himself to play the former skipper of Mohun Bagan in the Shoojit Sircar-directed period drama.
"I have no release this year. I am choosing my projects carefully and experimenting with my looks. Each role requires a lot of method and I need time to adopt. I am playing a footballer in 1911 and for the film I have to become 75 kgs by mid next year after ending a film. Now, I am 92. I really have to work hard on my body," John told PTI in an interview.

Apart from '1911', John will also be seen in three different looks in Sanjay Gupta's 'Mumbai Saga'.
"Sanjay is very experimental with his films and looks. This is the third time I am teaming up with him after 'Zinda' and 'Shootout at Wadala'," said John, who was in the city for the launch of a new branch of Toni & Guy saloon at South Extension.
"Shooting for 'Mumbai Saga' will start from November and in the film I will be seen in three different looks as it shows the three stages of a person's life. It is one of the breathtaking scripts I have read in a long time," John said.

John, however, admits that it is physically taxing for an actor to go through weight changes for films.

"It affects your body immensely. But I am bit lucky in this case because I am actually an ectomorph. I have a tendency to lose weight. I just need to get into a proper diet," he said.
The 'Madras Cafe' star has wrapped up shooting his multi starrer comic venture 'Welcome Back', a sequel to the hit 2007 film 'Welcome' that starred Akshay Kumar in the lead.
"Akshay is a good friend and brilliant actor. We worked together in many films. I enjoy watching his films and I liked 'Welcome' too. Shooting for 'Welcome Back' was fun as well as a learning experience. It has an ensemble starcast of Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal and Nana Patekar among others. It was good to work with such senior actors," he said.

John, who is often touted as a style icon, said physical fitness is important to look good.
"Gym is like a religion to me. I go to gym the way people go to church. When I was growing up there were no actors whom I could look upto because they were larger than life. When I decided to become an actor, I wanted to be stylish and concentrate on my fitness first," he said.