John Abraham on playing cop in Tehran: `Opened up new perspective on Propaganda`

John Abraham, who is gearing up for the release of his political thriller Tehran, made headlines recently when he expressed his disappointment with nationalistic films that border on jingoism. In an interview, the actor stated that such movies are made with “the intent to sway people in a hyper-political environment”. Making the distinction between stories that are rooted in national pride and those that are designed for propaganda is key, Abraham tells mid-day. To him, Tehran — based on the 2012 attacks on Israeli diplomats — belongs in the former category.  

“It’s inspired by a true incident that happened on February 13, 2012, outside the [Indian] Prime Minister’s residence. The film’s message was that, as Indians, we will not tolerate terrorism. That was the story’s crux, and that drew me to it,” he says. While many assumed that the Zee5 film is inspired by the Israel-Iran conflict, the actor sets the record straight, as he shares, “When we started working on the film, there was only underlying tension between Israel and Iran, not a full-blown war.”
In Arun Gopalan’s directorial venture, Abraham plays a cop who goes across Iran, Israel, and Scotland to crack the case of attacks on Israeli diplomats. Did playing this role give him a new perspective about diplomacy? “I want to believe that I am geopolitically aware. I wanted to get into the mind of the character I was playing. It opened up new perspectives about diplomacy and propaganda — not just the dynamic between Iran and Israel, but also India’s dynamic [with them]. India manages to play the balancing act; we have great relationships with both countries. Tehran is about how we navigate that.”