His inimitable charisma spills over as actor R Madhavan sits down to face the media at a recent visit to the city. After a delayed flight, he was tired but it didn’t show. In casual tees and jeans, Madhavan, or Maddy, goes on to shave before a whole audience, keeping with his current brand activity with Gillette. “I don’t think my son likes my unshaven face very much,” he quips.
His latest film, Tanu Weds Manu, a romantic comedy, is on the brink of release and Madhavan is quite upbeat about it. And why not, after all, a rom-com is right up his alley. “Actually not. The role of Manu was one of the toughest I’ve had to play. Having to dress down completely and get rid of all the heroics that we are accustomed to on screen was hard!” he says.
Being one of the most loved actors in Bollywood and even Tamil cinema, Madhavan has worn all sorts of hats over the years. But how does the man prepare for the roles that don’t define him? “You know, I have had to work on every single role I’ve played. None of them has been ‘me’. So I infused a bit of Maddy-ism into them to make it mine. People say I’ve got that ‘chocolate boy’ look and that too has helped me in working on certain characters,” he explains.
And ‘getting into the character’ has come with its side effects too. “Till date, playing Inbasekaran in Ayutha Ezhuthu (The Tamil version of Yuva) can be easily called traumatic. It was a character I couldn’t identify with at all — I don’t treat women like that. Even my wife was upset with me when she saw me in that character,” Maddy says.
Quite confident of his star presence and yet humble in demeanour the one question, inevitable at the interaction, was how does he look at the generation of actors that is coming up right behind him? Does he feel envious of the success they have tasted? “You have to understand something — it takes years to get to a position and stay there. So no, there is no jealousy. But I am happy to see the new crop of actors. But then again, to be a stellar performer or a star, you need experience on your side,” he explains.
So, does the Indian film industry have anyone he really looks up to? “Mr Amitabh Bachchan is my favourite star. I admire the way he’s retained his position over the years. My favourite actor, however, has to be Kamal Haasan. There is no one quite like him yet,” signs off Maddy.
