Madhavan

Small screen’s loss!
Do you think privacy has abandoned you after the success of Alai Payuthe?
Yes. But I have no regrets because I think the viewers are entitled to it and I think it’s all well as long as it is within limits.

You gave some subtle expressions in the film. Were they your contributions or was it done on Mani Rathinam’s suggestions?
Actually I only did what Mani Rathnam asked me to do. I feel every actor should work at least once with a director like Mani. He is an actor’s delight. Santosh Sivan sent my photos to Mani after he met me during the shooting of the Ponds Dreamflower Talc advertisement.

Following the success of Alai Payuthe, the Tamil film industry has found yet another reliable hero in Madhavan. Even before the release of the film, many in Chennai approached him with film offers. Moreover the other four heroes, Ajith, Prasanth, Vijay and Vikram have their calendars full for the year. Madhavan has, however, signed only three movies so far, CTV’s film directed by Gauthaman Menon, an associate to Rajiv Menon, a Suresh Krishna film for Kavithalaya and a Venkateswaralaya venture. It is his smile, however, that is a big hit with the teenagers. Young Madhavan who married his sweetheart six months ago is currently enjoying martial bliss as well as his newly found success immensely. Excerpts from the interview:

But nothing came out of it. In the meantime, I did a Kannada film Shanti Shanti Shanti with Abbas and Vinod Pande’s Hindi film Akeli. But unfortunately neither took off. It was then Mani called me. I was screen tested in the office backyard and this was followed by a photo shoot with Shalini.

Did you have to struggle a lot?
Actually everything came to me without having to struggle much. After studying in Jamshedpur, I did my 12th in Canada where I went on Rotary International scholarship. I came back to do my BE (Electronics) from Kolhapur and wasted four years of my life. Later I came to Mumbai to teach personality development and next came an offer to act in a TV serial where the money was lucrative. My father who is employed with Tata Steel and my mother, a bank officer, were not in favour of my acting career but I went ahead.
And now I can proudly say that today I have over 45 serials to my credit with some big ones like Ghar Jamai, Banegi Apni Baat, Sea Hawks, Badalte Rishtey, Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum as well a dozen ad commercials. So I was lucky that I never got to make rounds of film production offices as I was too busy with serials. The few film offers that did come my way did not interest me.

Aren’t you apprehensive about getting typecast because of your sugary smile and romantic image?
I have turned down many offers because they were extensions to my role in Alai Payuthe. Some of the filmmakers who wanted me for their films even before this film was ready were those who wanted to just cash on the film’s success. But I refused them. I want to have variety in my characters as the competition is very heavy today. If one repeats his work time and again, he will be out soon. I am also keen to do action films. I was lucky that I got to portray various characters on TV, even that of a terrorist. As for the other actors down South, I am in awe of Vijay whose dancing ability is amazing. Ajith is such a wonderful performer and Abbas is yet another good friend. I want to be an ever lasting performer like Kamal Hasasan.
Don’t forget that Rajnikant is still number one even after repeating himself.

It’s a unique phenomenon. If you notice, in Hindi, actresses like Hema Malini and Sridevi have lasted for decades. So was the case with Amitabh Bachchan. But today does anyone last for more than four years. People are forgotten very fast.

Will you be working with Mani again?
In fact I am waiting for his approval. I am a total novice to this industry. And my only guide here is Mani and my address at Chennai is his office.

Have you received any offers from other language films?
Not as yet. But believe me, there were two Malayalam directors who screen tested me sometime back and I was rejected? (Laughs)

Is it goodbye to small screen now that you are into acting in films?
I guess so because I will be tied up with film projects here. Moreover I have completed all my serials in Hindi. I plan to do only one film at a time because I don’t want to tamper my work doing many films at a time. I would also prefer to work with a director who has a bounded script.

Are you not planning to shift your base to Chennai?
Sarita, my wife, is working in Mumbai and we are quite settled there. Let us see what the future has in store for us.