`Rocky Handsome` emotional tale between man, little girl

John Abraham’s next project “Rocky Handsome” might be making news for its heavy-duty action and stunt scenes but the actor says the film is an emotional story about the bond between a man and a little girl.

“Rocky Handsome”, directed by Nishikant Kamath, is about a seven-year-old girl, who is kidnapped, and a man, (John) who embarks on a journey to get her back.

The 43-year-old “Force” star is happy that the action in the film is backed by an emotional story.

“Any amount of action is not enough if it is not backed by great emotion. The action is bound to work for the film as it is backed by the emotions. ‘Rocky Handsome’ is an emotional film between this man and this little girl,” John told PTI.

The “Madras Cafe” actor trained hard for the film as he learnt various forms of martial arts.

“I trained for about one month in a special art form on knifes. Working with knifes is dangerous, I trained in Thailand. I also trained in art forms like Aikido, Hapkido and others. When you have an athletic body and you couple it with great action the results can be astounding.” Sharing the reason behind the title of the action thriller, John said, The story is about this man and this little girl who keeps calling him handsome. It is a very sweet relationship.

So it was important for us to have ‘Handsome’ in the title and ‘Rocky’ because that is his code name. So ‘Rocky Handsome’ seemed like the best title. People have liked the title and found it cool.” This is the second collaboration between John and Nishikant after their 2011 hit “Force”. “We have come together to recreate magic with ‘Rocky Handsome’.

After ‘Force’, we wanted to make a film that is five notches higher. The action in this film is very different from other movies. “I don’t think in the last 10-15 years people would have seen raw, real action film. The beauty of the action in this film is that it is not gory,” he said. The actor will be seen showing his chiselled body in “Rocky Handsome” but John said he flexes his muscles on screen only when there is a demand.

“It is not that I want to go bare in all my films. When a film requires action and you have bare body shot you might as well be prepared for it. Otherwise you will have to work for three months on it. For me, my body is like this (fit for) 365 days . What you see in ‘Rocky Handsome’ is the way I look in real life.

“For me fitness is a way of life, it is not a phase of life. I do it for myself. The film is special in terms of screenplay, action. (If) My name is associated with a project, (then) I need it to be a quality film,” John said.

“Rocky Handsome”, which also features Shruti Haasan and model Nathalia Kaur, opens in theatres on March 25. “There is lot of romance in the film. We will introduce Shruti in the trailer. She plays my wife.

There is a facet of him that is romantic but he is also serious, he breaks bones, kills bad people,” John said.