John Abraham says Steven Spielberg, Charlize Theron loved his performance in Water: ‘No one here even saw it for a day’ | Bollywood-OxBig News Network

John Abraham on praise for Water

In conversation with BookMyShow’s YouTube channel, John spoke about how he struggles to get compliments for his performance in India, but has received them overseas. Water, his 2005 film, was nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category. John was one of the leads, alongside Lisa Ray and Seena Biswas. Recalling the time they went to the Academy Awards that year, John said, “When I went to the awards, I had the honour of meeting Steven Spielberg, and he loved my performance in Water, whereas no one here even saw it for a day. I remember Charlize Theron talking to me and saying that. I loved what you were processing, but no one here talked about that.”

All about Deepa Mehta’s Water

Water, set in 1938, was about the lives of widows in Varanasi. The final installment of Deepa Mehta’s Elements trilogy (after Fire and 1947: Earth). The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was honoured with the Opening Night Gala. It was belatedly released in India in 2007. Water was Canada’s official entry to the Oscars in 2006.

The film had originally been planned with Shabana Azmi, Akshay Kumar, and Nandita Das. However, when shoot began in Varanasi, protesters vandalised the sets, pausing the filming. Deepa Mehta had faced protests for hear earlier film – Fire – as it had dealt with same sex relationships. Water was shelved then and revived years later with a new cast as an Indo-Canadian project.