MUMBAI: Ripped and muscled Bollywood star, John Abraham is not just a hero on screen, but is just as macho off screen as well!

Recently, the action movie star was injured during a fight scene for his upcoming film ‘Race 2’. While shooting an integral fight scene with professional South Indian fighter and former Mr. Universe: Andrew, the hunky star injured himself. However, he valiantly decided to continue shooting despite being injured with a deep gash in his back that required up to 14 stitches.

He is one of the most sought-after names in the action film space, after ‘Force’, and looks like he has taken his own macho image to heart.

When quizzed about the scene, director Abbas of Abbas-Mustan duo said, “It’s a unique action sequence that hasn’t been seen in any film so far. John’s physique is such that it was necessary to get a competitor as good as him. When we did a research we found Andrew who’s a former Mr. Universe. Both of them were trained for the sequence before they shot. When the action starts, a huge cage comes down that is made of iron bars.”

Talking about the actor’s injuries Abbas added, “John was injured several times, but we would never realize that till the days’ shoot was over. Even when John got a 14 inch cut, we did not know it. Later, we thought we won’t be able to shoot for at least four-five days, but John continued despite the injury”.

An added level of difficulty for John Abraham was the fact that the action sequence was filmed over a period of a fortnight in Mumbai’s Filmistan Studios. The shoot sometimes carried on until 2 a.m.

Abbas revealed, “John worked out for three months for the perfect body. He wanted to match up to Andrew, working on a physique that was leaner than what he sported in Force and at the same time a little beefed up.”

‘Race 2’ is produced by Tips and stars Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Jacqueline Fernandez, Anil Kapoor and Ameesha Patel. The film is scheduled to release 25th January, 2013.