John Abraham shares his ‘Race 2’ journey to action hero

When one first thinks of John Abraham, one thinks of that lop-sided grin that could make any girl go weak at the knees. His soft-spoken voice and his uber-fit physique make him a worthy sex symbol today in B-town. However, in ‘Race 2’, the actor has done stunts that gave him many injuries and also (as he joked) an item song.

Talking to Times of India, Abraham spoke about Mixed Martial Arts which he performed for the movie, “When I was offered Race 2, it reminded me of Dhoom��(2004) minus the bikes. I missed the bikes, but the mind-blowing action in Race 2��makes up for it. I had to practice MMA with stunt director Peter Hein. Two��Vietnamese fighters�ʉ�� Son and Tun�ʉ�� coached me for two months to get my kicks, flexibility and agility right.”

He went on to add, “When I started rehearsing, for the first few days, I had tears in my eyes as my body went through excruciating pain. I’d scream dao (it means pain in Vietnamese), but they pushed me. I almost lost faith in myself, but didn’t give up”.

Abraham commented about what he hoped to achieve by doing such action stunts, “I want to set a certain benchmark for raw action in Bollywood. I believe in stunts that are real and believable. I’ve done a cage fight in the movie without cables. This is my item song for Race 2! I have fought with a 300-pound South African professional fighter, Andrew, in the film. He was a sweet, docile guy otherwise, but once he entered the ring, I had to fight to save my life”.

Concluding on the topic, Abraham shared his thoughts about a change in image, “I look at myself as a commodity. Cinema is a visual medium. I want to draw a balance between my��sex appeal��and the rawness of the stunts I perform. I like being edgy…”

‘Race 2’ is slated for release on 25th January.