By Joginder Tuteja
Mumbai, Aug 17 (IANS) Hit film “New York” has completed 50 days at the box office and actor John Abraham says the film industry is looking at him differently now - from being termed as expressionless by critics, he is now being praised for emoting on screen.

“Can you beat that… there was so much negativity thrown about me over the years, but I was keeping my head down and continuing to pick the best from what came my way. I’m glad I did ‘New York’. It just changed the way filmmakers are looking at me today,” John told IANS.

Directed by Kabir Khan, “New York” was the biggest earner of the year before “Kambakkht Ishq” and “Love Aaj Kal” arrived. A clean hit at the box office, this Yash Raj production boasted of critical as well as commercial success.

“The film helped me in a way that today even those people from the industry are calling me who have never done that before. I’m not holding any grudges though… what’s the point in doing that?” said John.

With harsh criticism coming someone’s way, isn’t it natural to have bitterness?

“No, I have actually never been bitter. Instead I have only tried to be as humble as possible, put my head down and work hard. I guess the result is a film like ‘New York’. I hope to be doing many more such performance-oriented films. I work for appreciation more than anything else and I guess my time has started now,” said John.

Known more for his physicality, courtesy movies like “Dhoom” and the recent “Dostana”, it was a welcome shift for John to see critics warming up to his acting abilities.

“What a relief it was…my physicality has been so overpowering but thankfully people looked beyond that in ‘New York’ and talked about my performance too,” said the actor who had earlier impressed audiences in Deepa Mehta’s Oscar-nominated “Water”.

After movies like “Dhoom” and “Kabul Express”, John got an opportunity to work with Yash Raj Films again in “New York”.

“All credit to Adi (Aditya Chopra) who put so much faith in me and roped me in for ‘New York’. I remember telling Adi and Kabir (Khan): give me more of second half in the film and I will make sure that there won’t be a single moist eye in theatre. As you see, the climax is still being remembered for being such a heart-wrenching affair.”

Right now the actor is investing a lot of himself in his next “1-800 Love”. The film is being directed by Abbas Tyrewala and produced by Madhu Mantena of “Ghajini” fame.

“This is yet another special film for me. We can’t go wrong with the film as we have made 200 percent sure that we’ve got everything right on the writing at the pre-production stage itself. In fact, I went through these formal script workshops for the film which was such a great experience,” he said.

John can’t be seen resting though. Before the end of year, he will have one more of his films hitting the screens - David Dhawan’s “Hook Ya Crook”, which is set for a Dec 11 release.

A UTV Motion Pictures production, “Hook Ya Crook” also stars Genelia D’souza, Kay Kay Menon, Shreyas Talpade and Sharad Kapoor with a special appearance by cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The film is set in a prison and revolves around a cricket match played among the inmates.