John's last outing as an action hero was in 2003 hit 'Dhoom' where he played the villainous role of Kabir but the 37-year-old actor, who started his Bollywood career with 'Jism', is best known for playing lover boy in movies like 'Garam Masala' and 'Dostana'.
Shah, who is currently busy with his upcoming release 'Action Replayy' says that the new film will show a different facet of John's personality.
"This will be a rebirth of John in an action avatar. He was last in 'Dhoom' and was quite a hit but with this film we are taking the action a couple of notches higher. Its a fantastic film to remake. He is currently shooting it. We are planning to release the film in mid next year," Shah told PTI.
The original film starred Surya, Jyothika and Jeevan in the lead roles. The film helped cement Surya's superstar position in the Tamil cinema.
Nishikant Kamat of 'Mumbai Meri Jaan' fame is adapting the movie in Hindi while John replaces Surya in the Hindi version Shah says he is yet to cast the female lead.
John was recently seen in Abbas Tyrewala's romantic-comedy 'Jhootha Hi Sahi' where he played the role of lovable loser Sidharth.