John turns a flabby nerdy boy for Tyrewala

Here"s John in a startling unexpected avatar. We"ve seen John Abraham flaunt his physique in so many variations and permutations that we are no more use to see him with his clothes on. Tarun Mansukhani, who has to find a new way to strip John in Dostana 2 is confused and annoyed.

“After Dostana how much more can John strip without getting into his birthday suit?" says Tarun in exasperation, as he sits on the storyboard poring over ways to make John look like a reborn beefcake.

But beefcake is the last thing that John has in store for his fans in the film Jhootha Hi Sahi. His carefully-concealed look in Abbas Tyrewala"s film will remain out of bounds for a while. And with good reason. John actually gets out of his body-beautiful space to play a nerdy ordinary white collar bespectacled guy with a flabby physique in Jhootha Hi Sahi.

John in fact wanted to go all the way for the role to add buckteeth to the guy"s personality. But Abbas put his foot down. Says the director, “This is a side to John that no one has seen. He"s painfully ordinary in speech, body language and clothes. He wears thick glasses and can"t look straight into anyone"s eyes."

The clothes for John"s character were bought off the rack from departmental stores. Confirms Tyrewala, “Yup, no designer clothes for John in Jhootha Hi Sahi. We shopped for his clothes in retail outlets, actually purchased working-class labels like 'Arrow" and 'Raymonds"."

Forget the itsy bitsy swimming trunks from Dostana. John actually slouches and shuffles his way through Jhootha Hi Sahi trying to blend into the crowds. Naturally, stripping for the camera would seem like the last thing on the character"s mind. But hang on! John"s nerdy character does take off his clothes in Jhootha Hi Sahi.

“And when he does strip, boy does it come as a shock," chortles the director. Apparently John got flabby for the stripping scene. When he disrobes, fans would be shocked to see a little paunch peeping out. Says Abbas, “John wanted to put on a lot more weight. I decided against overdoing it. Those who are used to seeing his chiselled body would be shocked by the absence of contours when he strips."

Ask John and he chuckles, “From a Greek to a Geek, long journey I think."