Actor John Abraham’s expressionless acting has left him sidelined in Bollywood
MUMBAI: Actor John Abraham has been sidelined from Bollywood blockbusters because of his expressionless acting.
Insiders figure he needs to stop relying on his muscles and learn to emote convincingly.
Abraham, who has been in showbiz for 16 years, has been sharply criticised for being a wooden, expressionless actor whose popularity rests solely on his ripped physique.
Surprisingly, he was once one of Bollywood’s biggest names, with star power and endorsements aplenty. But over the last few years, he’s all but disappeared from the public eye – until now.
Prior to acting, he had an outstandingly successful run as a model, starring in a number of major advertisements and music videos.
On the professional front, he was bagging plum assignments such as Dhoom, in which he played the l e a d antagonist and won a Filmfare Award for his efforts, in 2004; the Oscarnominated Water in 2005, the commercially successful comedy Garam Masala, again in 2005; Zinda, Baabul and Kabul Express — all moderately successful in 2006; Dostana in 2008, New York in 2009.
But after a few years of early success, since 2010, Abraham has been seen almost entirely in a string of films that has him playing one of two characters — the hunk who served as convenient eye-candy in mindless comedies like Desi Boyz, Housefull 2, I, Me aur Main, Welcome Back; or the macho lead in action thrillers like Force, Race 2, Shootout At Wadala, Madras Cafe, Rocky Handsome, Dishoom, Force 2, Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran, Satyameva Jayate, and the recently released Romeo Akbar Walter.
Too stereotypical? You bet. He needs to develop some facial expressions, and quit looking like someone who’s been shot full of botox.