John Abraham is one of Bollywood’s quintessential action stars but he’s also often overlooked as an actor with seriously dramatic capabilities. If you too wish to witness the best of both worlds in Abraham’s career, we have the ultimate watchlist for you along with all the information you need to stream his movies.
Where to watch John Abraham’s filmography?
Netflix, ZEE5, and Amazon Prime Video are abundant with John Abraham’s best movies. But in case you want to stream the ones missed out by these OTT services, you can try out Jio Cinema, Eros Now, and Hotstar.
A Glimpse at John Abraham, the Action Star
Starting out as a model and then transitioning into acting in the early 2000s, Abraham broke out with his villainous turn as a biker thief in Dhoom. The movie was an instant hit and spawned the Dhoom series that continues to hold sway on Indian pop culture with its high-octane bike chase sequences.
Abraham didn’t just showcase his acting talents in an antagonistic role but also his affinity for riding motorcycles and indulging in stuntwork. Two-wheelers and Abraham have had an interesting relationship in the years to come. Apart from noteworthy bike stunts in action flicks like Attack, an iconic scene in his career takes place in the opening minutes of Force when he lifts a 150 kg bike with nothing but his two chiselled and muscular arms.
While Abraham successfully transitioned into heroic roles in his post-Dhoom career, he occasionally gets back on the villain’s chair with positive results. A case in point is the Shah Rukh Khan-led blockbuster Pathaan, the fourth installment in the YRF Spy Universe. While Khan and Deepika Padukone played heroic undercover agents from India and Pakistan, Abraham played the rogue Indian military officer Jim.
Other essential John Abraham action flicks include a long list of remakes, the most prominent ones being Force (a cop drama remade from Suriya’s Tamil film Khakha Khakha), Rocky Handsome (inspired by the South Korean neo-noir The Man From Nowhere), and Taxi No. 9211 (remade from Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx’s thriller Collateral).
A Glimpse at John Abraham, the Serious Actor
John Abraham’s recurring involvement in mainstream action doesn’t imply that he can’t experiment occasionally. After all, he starred in one of Anurag Kashyap’s most divisive and surrealist movies. Based on a Stephen King short story, the Kafkaesque nightmare that is No Smoking featured Abraham as a chainsmoker who goes down a dark path of recovery as he gets involved with a cult-like collective to kick the habit.
The actor’s other typecast-breaking roles included an Indian journalist stranded in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in the heartwarming satire Kabul Express and an Indian man struggling with his racial identity in post-9/11 America in Kabir Khan’s acclaimed thriller New York.
Apart from his love for all things action, Abraham is also an avid sports person with his love for football being evoked in Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal. The sports drama reunited him with his Kabul Express co-star Arshad Warsi as he played a club-level footballer from Southall, the Indian-dominated region of London.
Why is Madras Cafe John Abraham’s best movie?
While No Smoking can arguably be Abraham’s best movie, it can make for quite a puzzling watch for some viewers. Perhaps a more palatable movie that still showcases the best of Abraham’s dramatic side is Shoojit Sircar’s war thriller Madras Cafe. Set in the midst of regional terrorism in ‘80s-era Sri Lanka, Abraham plays an undercover agent from India’s spy wing RAW. However, instead of indulging in any heavy-duty theatrics this time, Abraham’s performance is nuanced and heartfelt as he plays a broken drifter who seeks inner peace in the face of turmoil.
