John Abraham reacts to the ban on The Diplomat in the Middle East: It is not an anti-Pakistan film

John Abraham-starrer and produced The Diplomat released last month amid minute buzz, but the film has shown a steady growth, even getting more shows added recently. “No one knew when The Diplomat released. There was absolutely no confidence around the film from the partners involved in the film. So, for it to shine out, I want to thank my critics and my audience for finding this film and for keeping it alive. I always say this that the audience always finds the good films,” he says.

Not taking the jingoistic path

The actor-producer takes pride in the fact that the film didn’t depend on nationalistic jingoism, and he admits it was a conscious decision. “Ritesh Shah wrote a banger of a script, but I also give credit to my director Shivam Nair. I had a conversation with him where I told him that apne aap ko uuncha dikhane ke liye, kisi aur ko neecha dikhane ki zarurat nahi hai. We don't have to put down another country or another person to show that we are better or bigger in any way. We walked a thin line,” he says, adding, “Very categorically Shivam and I discussed that this cannot be a jingoism film. We’ve seen too many of them in the recent past, and that is not our formula of success. We have to be sensitive to people and to countries, because there are good and bad people everywhere. We didn't cheat anybody or sell our souls for the film.”

The ban in Middle East

However, he is “shocked” to see that the film got banned in the Middle East. “People are very myopic in their vision. This is not an anti-Pakistan film, if at all, we showed that the judiciary system in Pakistan is honest. We showed an honest Pakistani lawyer and an honest Pakistani judge. Even the patrolling cars that are taking us to the border had honest policemen. They are actually fighting against the other guys. So, we've in no way demeaned anybody.”

Stepping away from leading role and no PR

The Diplomat marks John’s second film right after Vedaa (2024) where he played a secondary character to a female lead. Ask him if why he doesn’t feel conscious of taking a secondary role and he says, “It comes out of security. You have to be secure as an actor and you need to know what is your intention? Do you want to keep playing a glorified lead or do you want to tell a good story? There's nothing wrong with either, but I want to do the latter. You have to be a carrier of a good story, which is something that we must reinvent in our industry.”

And John has been doing it on his own, without any PR agenda backing him: “I don't have a publicist, because I don't know what they could do for me. I don't know if they are wrong or right, but I don't probably fit into that story. I have slowly built a story around myself through my work which people find a lot more credible today. I want to be known by the films I do rather than by how many crores the film has done or how many affairs I have had, or by how many kinds of clothes I wore. We all love commercial success, and I want that too, but today, the audience is defining an actor by the film they do or the choices they make.”