John Abraham unveiled as co-owner of Delhi Waveriders hockey team

John Abraham’s life is a hectic trip on Monday. His flight from Dubai has been inordinately delayed, and he is headed back to the airport for a return flight barely an hour later to resume a film shoot.

If you can catch him, he’s all pepped up as ever, and the reason becomes obvious when you consider what he did in-between.

Actor-producer John just turned entrepreneur. On Monday, he was introduced as co-owner and brand ambassador of the Delhi Waveriders team in Hockey India League.

“I have a selfish reason for being associated with this team. I am a big fan of Sardar Singh. I want to train with these guys because I want pecks like Sardar’s,” he says, referring to the Indian hockey captain and the talismanic star of the Delhi team.

There is another special reason why John is smiling these days, you realise on prodding. It looks like the M-bug has finally bitten the eligible bachelor.

“It will happen soon,” replies the 40-year-old star, when asked about his marriage plans. “I feel I have reached the stage in life when one must settle down.”

You can’t miss how the action hunk goes mushy when you mention his girlfriend Priya Runchal.

“She is simple, smart, educated and down to earth. She studied in London Business School, so I’ll look up to her for tips on good management of a hockey team,” he smiles.

John’s next release Welcome Back doesn’t open until December 2014, but the year ahead is packed. Apart from Welcome Back, he is also working on Nishikant Kamath’s Rocky Handsome and Shoojit Sircar’s untitled film on football.

The real twist in his career, however, will come after these films release.

“I plan to take up direction in a year and half. Right now, an Oscar-winning documentary film-maker has been roped in to write the screenplay and dialogues. I can’t give details, all I’ll say is I’m planning a cool and contemporary film with a sport-based theme. The project will have a moderate budget, it is my first film as a director after all,” he reveals.

Hockey of course is the first step for businessman John.

“My superbike team will happen soon,” he tells.

John is clearly enjoying donning many hats.

“I always wanted to multitask,” he says, adding that he has started enjoying film production as well.

“In the 80s, we saw some of our worst films. 90s were bad too, and some of my worst films were the ones I did in the early 2000s. If I can change the scene by producing my kind of films, why not?” he concludes.