In a career spanning over 25 years, R Madhavan has established himself as one of the most versatile stars in the Indian film industry. From starring in cult Hindi romantic drama Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein to playing a supporting yet significant role as an aspiring photographer-cum-engineering student in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots and headlining the Tamil neo-noir action thriller blockbuster Vikram Vedha, Madhavan has done several acclaimed films across languages.
Even though Madhavan did not have any godfather in the industry when he started out, he says that he will be grateful to his fellow colleagues and megastars like Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, and Rajinikanth for always being so supportive and encouraging.
Madhavan is now venturing into direction with the biographical drama Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, which releases in theatres today. The 51-year-old actor has also headlined, written, and produced Rocketry, which is a biopic on Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organisation, who was falsely accused of espionage. The film also features Shah Rukh Khan and Suriya in guest appearances.
“If you ask me, ‘Are there good people in the industry?’ I can tell you with absolute surety that there are. Shah Rukh and Suriya both superstars jumped forward and did this movie without taking any money. I’m eternally indebted to them for the gesture that they showed to somebody like me because I’m a newcomer and I’m always going to be considered an outsider because of the kind of films I do and the parties that I don’t attend but that’s okay,” Madhavan told us.
The actor continued, “I’m very uncomfortable with those situations. But I have always had the best of intent shown to me from the industry- be it Kamal Haasan sir, Rajinikanth sir, or Amitabh sir. It’s just one call or message to them and they jump into tweeting about it or doing a guest appearance in my film. Amitabh sir has done a cameo in Ramji Londonwaley. So, I have been very blessed. I don’t know whether I deserve it or not in all honesty and they have nothing to gain from me but they have done it and I’m very grateful to them.”
Madhavan is amongst the few stars who have successfully dabbled in both Hindi and southern cinemas and the actor says that it’s high time “we should stop demarcating between Bollywood, Tollywood, and Mollywood.”
“In Amitabh Bachchan’s words, it’s the Indian film industry and I subscribe to that,” the actor said before adding, “We’re quick to compartmentalise and analyse the success and failure of certain films. The only thing constant about the Indian film industry or any other film industry is you can never predict. The moment you think you have cracked something, you have not.”
Madhavan further said, “It’s not like all South films are doing very well. There are many examples of films that have released pan India and have not done great and there are many Hindi films that have done exceptionally well. I think there’s a comparison because they think Hindi films have not done as well in the South as South films have done in the Hindi belt. Maybe they don’t understand the language completely or maybe they have not matured enough to watch a dubbed version or maybe the dubbed version of a Hindi film has not been released as extensively in South Indian languages. But we have become an industry that is wholesome in nature. Actors are being accepted around the country. So it’s a great time. I don’t think so there’s a controversy at all.”
