John Abraham’s ‘Tehran’ director Arun Gopal: ‘Understood the covert operations involving India, Iran, and Israel

John Abraham’s film Tehran has been awaiting its release since 2023. It finally releases on Zee5 during the Independence Day weekend. And in an interview with Bollywood Hungama, the actor broke his silence on the same.

John revealed, “It’s very disheartening. I’m not going to mince my words on it, but it breaks your heart, especially for an actor who always wants to be seen on the big screen. But we all made a very informed decision on that. And the decision was that because of the conflicts and controversies that are happening around internationally.”

And the director of the film Arun Gopal has spilled the beans on the idea of the film and said, “What initially drew me in was the sheer intrigue of an espionage’ish thriller set against a backdrop we rarely get to explore cinematically – the geopolitical landscape of the Iran-Israel conflict. But when I started my research I soon realised that ‘geopolitics’ was just the texture – the real deal was a deeper curiosity: how personal loyalty and political ideologies collide in the shadows”

Gopal added, “Characters who operate in moral grey zones will always be fascinating – people who are both perpetrators and victims of geopolitics. Once I started spending more time with real officials and agents, I understood real-world events and covert operations involving India, Iran, and Israel. That’s when the story started to take shape. It wasn’t just about action or politics anymore – it became about identity, choices, and the cost of duty.”

On political thrillers and the sensitivity of the material

It’s tightrope over a minefield – especially when the lines between fact and fiction start to blur. Did we as makers, second-guess certain choices? Yes we did. Not because they weren’t dramatic or compelling, but because the subject matter touched on real tensions, real countries, and real people. You want to tell a gripping story, but you also don’t want to misrepresent or sensationalise just for the sake of impact.

One scene in particular – without giving too much away – raised internal debates. It dealt with a decision I took on set, involving the antagonist’s vice and I kept circling back to whether it was too provocative, too loaded, or simply too risky. In the end – we kept it, but only after we ensured it was rooted in character truth, not just political noise. That’s the challenge with this genre: staying honest to your story while respecting the gravity of the world you’re portraying.