Mumbai, Mar 19 (IANS): John Abraham, who will be seen as gangster Manya Surve in "Shootout at Wadala", defends the glamour quotient attached to underworld-based movies, saying they are not trying to make heroes out of gangsters.

"Gangsters will always be gangsters. The way they used to work, the language they used and their behaviour - we are not changing anything. We are not making heroes out of gangsters. We are showing what happened in real life between 1979 and 1982," the 39-year-old said here in an interview.

John, who would be seen speaking colloquial Marathi besides typical Mumbaiya language in the film, says it was not hard for him as he has been born and brought up in a typical Mumbai environment.

"May be when people think of John Abraham, they think of someone who eats pizzas and burgers. But John has been born and brought up in Mumbai and John used to stay in Koldongri in Andheri East. He is very familiar with the language," said John.

"There is a big difference between the way people perceive me, and the way I am. I am projected in a particular manner - in 'Dostana' I was shown as a cool, urban guy. But the real John is a middle-class man. I also used to adulterate Hindi language at one point of time," he added.

John has turned producer with "Vicky Donor", a film about sperm donation starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Yami Gautam.