John Abraham turns 51: Highest-rated films of the actor in the last 2 decades

Popular Bollywood actor John Abraham turns 51 today. 2023 also marked Abraham’s top 20 years in the film industry - the model-turned-actor began his film career with Pooja Bhatt directed erotic-thriller Jism, and has never looked back. While initially criticised for limited acting range, Abraham has grown substantially with each film, gradually silencing most of the naysayers. On the actor’s birthday, here’s looking at 5 of his top-rated films and performances:

Taxi no 9 2 11

John Abraham has always made very interesting and unconventional choices when it comes to film scripts. This Milan Luthria film is one such shining example, where John Abraham plays a classic rich spoilt brat who finds himself locking horns with a short tempered cabbie over a trivial issue, which gradually ends up changing his destiny. 

No Smoking

Although it was both critically panned and commercially failed upon release, No Smoking has eventually garnered a cult status for its avant-garde narrative and themes. In this 2007 Anurag Kashyap directorial, John Abraham played a rich, arrogant man who is forced to succumb to authoritarian rule in order to live a life of normalcy.

Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran

This film directed by Abhishek Sharma was based on the true events from 1998 when a team of official successfully conducted the test of Pokhran Bomb. Abraham played the role of protagonist Ashwat Raina, who arrives in Pokhran along with and his teammates to re-conduct a confidential nuclear test, where they also face challenges from American Lacrosse satellite and local spies.

Madras Cafe

This film stands out in the filmography involved, be it filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, actress Nargis Fakhri or actor John Abraham who was also brave enough to produce a politically charged like this. John Abraham also played the protagonist of this film, portraying an Indian intelligence agent and capturing his journey to a war-torn Sri Lanka. 

Batla House

Later in his career, John Abraham gained prominence for headline action-driven projects, many of them being based on true socio-political events. The 2019 film Batla House was one of Abraham’s better film projects in this regard, with Abraham playing a high-positioned cop responsible to investigation an encounter attack that took place at Batla House, while also struggling to hunt down the fugitive.