He's given us hits like "Garam Masala", "Dhoom" and "Dostana", but they've all been multi-starrers. Now John Abraham says he is in pursuit of solo hero movies after taking a sabbatical to groom himself and restructure his life to step into the best phase of his career.

John's last film "New York" (2009) received much critical acclaimed, but that too was a multi-starrer. "I am trying to do solo films, which could be commercially successful. I'm aiming to do that with certain directors who I believe will kind of create a platform for me and the kind of scripts that will work also,” states visibly happy John.

The 36-year-old, who made an impressive start with romantic thriller "Jism" in 2003, has experimented with comedy, action and family drama. He says he is open to doing different genres but adds that he would prefer working on real stories. "I look at films that entertain rather than looking at genres. If you speak of genres, then technically I should only do action films, but that doesn't mean I will do only action. The idea is to do real stories," said the actor.

John, who disappeared after "New York", will be seen on the big screen in Abbas Tyrewala's romantic comedy "1-800-Love". "It's a romantic comedy. It's like 'Notting Hill'...And I think Abbas has done a great job." Talking about his sabbatical, John said: "I was designing my house and reading books. I was restructuring my professional life and trying to understand how I could give better films. I took time off so that I could do quality work."

"I read books to understand the type of films I want to do. I don't want to copy other films. I want to do originals. I want to do human stories. I want to understand how to position myself in front of the audience and decided these are the films audience will enjoy.

"So I was restructuring by trying to select the right scripts, right directors, right producers. You start charting out your life, like a game of chess. Now it's planned and the best part of my professional life starts now," he added. The actor has an impressive line up of releases - "Hook Ya Crook", "Aashayein", "Alibaba Aur 41 Chor" (voiceover), "Saat Khoon Maaf" and "Dostana 2".

John has often been complimented for his good looks and sculpted body and the actor is the brand ambassador of Garnier Men grooming products. He says men care more about their looks nowadays.

"I think men have become more conscious because they have realised that women have become more independent. Today, women have a choice. Earlier, women didn't have a choice. She can tell a man to get out. So men have learnt to groom themselves, become smarter, better. And part of the deal is to smell good, look good, and feel fresh. So that's why men's products have become much more relevant today," said John.

And even as playing himself in this film is proving to be tough, John is also not happy with reports about him signing an international project. “I believe websites have put up stories about me doing an international film, American Empire. I haven’t even read the script. Where does the question of my doing it come from? Doing international films isn’t a burning ambition for me,” he says.

But so what, if international films are not on John’s list of must-dos? Desi projects are on his platter; all right the hunk is looking forward to teaming up with director Tarun Mansukhani in the second instalment of Dostana. “Tarun is a wonderful boy. Hopefully, we’ll be doing the Dostana sequel shortly,” he said.

It is true. And he’s grateful that New York has created a new space for him in Bollywood. But he’s not into competing with anyone for a leading position. His fans don’t consider him the No. 1, 2 or 3 actor; to them he is just the John Abraham! “We are all competitors,” he agreed, “but I have no sense of competition outside, my competition is within, I’m trying to better myself in my own space.”