Rocketry: The Nambi Effect had R Madhavan garner praise not only for his performance as ISRO’s former scientist Nambi Narayanan, but also for his directorial skills. And Madhavan revealed that despite his efforts, the director in him often comes to the fore when he faces the camera as an actor.
At the teaser launch of the suspense thriller Dhokha Round D Corner, Madhavan exclusively told News18, “As an actor, when you go to a film set, you want to keep the director in you away. I did not have much experience in directing before Rocketry. It was just a ‘learn as you go’ process for me. When I act, I look forward to just doing my work as an actor freely by getting into the character. I simply want to get done with my job, get back home and feel good about finishing my work for the day. I won’t let that conflict happen, but I’m sure that it will happen someday.”
He shared that it was during the shoot of his Netflix Original series, Decoupled, that he often found the actor and the director in him coming in conflict. “When I did Decoupled after Rocketry, I was very tempted to suggest a few things but I kept my mouth shut and controlled myself. That’s the only way to do a film or a show now. There can only be one director on a set and I don’t want to add any confusion,” Madhavan added.
Talking about the joy of acting on the sets of Dhokha Round D Corner by keeping his directorial instincts at bay, the 52-year-old actor elaborated, “I was tired of playing Nambi because I was carrying that character around for six years. After directing, producing and writing the film, I just wanted to come to a set and be an actor and be moulded by my director. The relief that I can do it and actually submit myself to my director is amazing, and I’m happy I could do that with Kookie (Gulati). That cleansing was very important. The instinct to tell my director to take a shot in a certain way because I’ve had some experience in direction too had to be erased.”
When asked about his decision to direct remakes of his own films, Madhavan asserted that he isn’t a fan of remakes. He recalled, “They wanted me to remake 3 Idiots (2009) in Tamil but I didn’t do that. I realised that it would become difficult for me.”
The Vikram Vedha (2017) actor further opined, “As an actor, when I perform a scene for the first time, I put my life and soul into it but recreating it is impossible for me. I wouldn’t do remakes of anybody’s films, leave alone mine! When the comparison happens, the whole fun of the film goes away.”
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