John Abraham says Dubai is his 'lucky mascot'

Bollywood’s John Abraham is hopeful his new film, 'Jhootha Hi Sahi', will do well as he considers the city of Dubai to be his lucky mascot.

In a press event prior to his film’s world premiere, Wednesday, at Grand Cineplex, the actor said: “Things have always worked for me when I’ve come to Dubai and I hope this time will be no different.”

Abraham, who had the press and fans laughing with his onstage antics, said it wasn’t too easy a job to hide his good looks to play the character of your average geek next door in the film.

“Yes, it was easy not to fret over my gym routine and my diet for the film, but as director Karan Johar and other friends in the industry have always told me, I should never be apologetic about my good looks. I am who I am,” said the actor, who has also won the accolade of being one of the sexiest men in Asia.

Accompanying him in Dubai was the film’s lead actress and script writer Pakhi, who also happens to be director Abbas Tyrewala’s wife.

When quizzed about the ongoing Warner Bros controversy about the film being a rip off of the sitcom, Friends, Abraham said: “We’ve made a love story, which also features a group of friends. But not all friends can be patented by the company. This film is an absolute original, and I stand by my word.”

Pakhi added: “I think Warner Bros has backed down from their claim because we went on record saying if they can prove JHS is a copy of Friends, we will simply not release it.”

Abraham added that the movie is his best performance till date and he worked very hard with rest of the film’s cast and crew in a two-month acting workshop to get the character right.

“I could relate to the role of a geek because that was who I was in my younger years, someone who stammered and had an acne problem,” revealed Abraham. “Plus, I was very shy back then and scared of rejection.”

The film depicts the story of Mishka, played by Pakhi, who calls a suicide helpline but mistakenly ends up ringing a bookstore run by Sid (Abraham), who falls in love with her and gets trapped in a string of lies to keep her by his side.

Abraham, who in a promotional spree for the film is also carrying a hotline cellphone to connect with his fans these last few weeks. When asked what he would say if a woman in actuality rang him threatening to kill herself over an affair gone wrong, the actor said: “I will say a line from the film: There’s only one life, live it. And I would certainly add that no guy is worth it.”

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