John Abraham and Manoj Bajpayee take us on a cat and mouse chase in their upcoming release Satyameva Jayate. In the film which is directed by Milap Zaveri, John plays a maseeha with a vengeance, as he takes the law into his own hands. On the other hand, Manoj plays the role of a truthful and loyal cop who is hell-bent on finding John's character Veer. This forms the crux of the action thriller that will surely keep you on the edge of your seats.
Satyameva Jayate clashes with another highly awaited movie Gold, which is directed by Reema Kagti and stars Akshay Kumar in the titular role. Both are releasing on a national holiday i.e. Independence Day. In an EXCLUSIVE tête-à-tête with Pinkvilla, John spoke candidly to us about his film that is special to his heart, the clash with his good friend Akshay's film, working with a veteran like Manoj Bajpayee and his ideal form of punishment for crimes against women. Read on for some excerpts from the interview with John:
On whether John had apprehensions of starring in Milap Zaveri directorial:
"Zero, because I don't look at the track record of a director. I just look at what he has offered me. I took time from Milap just to make him suffer a little more (laughs). I loved the script instantly when I read it."
Clash with Akshay Kumar starrer Gold:
"As a producer, there is a place for two films on a holiday weekend. I don't think it will affect Gold's collection. We are destined to do what we are destined to do. Yes, we both would have done marginally more if we released solo on a holiday weekend but we would have also done marginally less if we had released on a non-holiday weekend, even solo. I think it is a good day to release and with Parmanu, you would have realised that I release on all wrong days. (laughs) For once, I have done it on a good day. Secondly, I feel Gold and Satyameva Jayate are two very different films. Gold has a lot more at stake as it is a far more expensive film so they really have to do business. With Satyameva Jayate, we're far safer on that front because we have already covered up our costs of production. Keeping that aside, and I love Akshay...I would want for Gold to do well. I would want Satyameva Jayate also to do well. With Akshay and me, it will be very difficult to find a controversy because we genuinely like each other. We enjoy each other's company so I don't think there is that feeling of anger or anything else. It doesn't exist in two of us. He is just like me. We are very nonmalicious people. We are very happy in that space. Fortunately, for both of us, we are not producers of the film. We can just sit back and enjoy."
Working with Manoj Bajpayee
"We intrinsically got along. We were laughing away throughout the entire film. We get along so well, it's just about feeding off of each other. When you have an institution like Manoj Bajpayee working in front of you, it raises your level of performance. At the end of the day, I am a beggar, I'm greedy so as much as I can learn, I could pick out. I'd just suck everything off him. I think it was more beneficial for me than for Manoj. But, I think together the two of us...when you see the film, you will realise the face-off that both of us have, it is what films are made of. I'm very happy it happened."
John Abraham's ideal form of punishment for crimes against women:
"I believe that we do not have the right to take anyone's life. But I believe, unfortunately, in this case, capital punishment is the only way forward. If you are caught in Saudi Arabia with drugs, the penalty is death. There is no drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia. Simple. Why are you scared of the ISIS today? Because they send out videos of orange hostages who they are beheading. Fear. If you do not instill fear in sick men's minds in this country, this will continue to happen. The only way forward is capital punishment. I say this with a lot of , but it is the only way forward. If you send those men to the gallows and you hang them, it will at least stop one other man from doing that, knowing that he is going to be killed. But if you keep letting them off...men are roaming around, they are raping children, women, animals! When is this degenerated society going to stop? You know when it will hit you most? When you travel abroad and someone says, 'Hey, India! It's the rape capital of the world.' You then think THIS is what we are known for. So, as a proud Indian, I say this that this country is not safe for women or animals."
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