“Do you want to keep your recorder here?” asks actor Madhavan, pointing to the arm of his sofa. And, I am instantly put at ease. Dressed in a blazer, he is at his charming best when we meet him, at an event held by Hathway Broadband, announcing Madhavan as its national brand ambassador.
The actor is never stingy with words. From the lover boy in Alaipayuthey and the rustic role in Aayutha Ezhuthu to the rugged coach in Irudhi Suttru and the soft-spoken Manu in Tanu Weds Manu , the sheer variety of roles he has slipped into shows the evolution of a thinking actor.
Being slotted into a chocolate boy role was not planned. “I was 30 when I did Alaipayuthey . I was supposed to be in the ‘man-image’ by then. Somehow, the chocolate boy tag has carried on. But, the roles I did in Aayutha Ezhuthu , Rang De Basanti and Irudhi Suttru , were not the chocolate boy kind. It was not a conscious decision to get rid of it. But, the lover boy image has stuck till date. I do not think I like it too much.”
But, in Irudhi Suttru , the audience, especially women, welcomed his grungy self with open arms. Did Madhavan change or did the nature of cinema change? “Credit goes to the director, Sudha K Prasad. A male director tries to make you look masculine, but when a woman takes over, she sees it differently. For instance, I wanted my hair to be set, and wear ‘coachy’ kind of clothes. But, she said, that’s not what women like, and wanted me to wear my T-shirt inside out and look shabby. I was fine with it.”
The mean guy
Vikram Vedha , his next venture with Vijay Sethupathi, has already created a buzz on social media, thanks to its neo-noir feel. “Whenever I do a film, I hope to hell that I am doing an interesting one. And, Vikram Vedha is one of the most exciting scripts I have done. It is not a normal cop versus bad guy story. I play an unscrupulous and unsympathetic guy.”
He calls Vijay Sethupathi his brother. “He is not only a great talent, but also a good human being, and we got along like a house on fire. You will only see the fight on screen, but off screen, we were talking, joking and sharing a lot.”
His basic defence training came in handy when preparing for the film, but he has also put in a lot of research. “I had to put thought into how things are done and give attention to details like reloading bullets in the middle of a fight.”
It could be a role as simple as Manu, in TWM , but Madhavan swears by his research. “That’s what makes me tick. In TWM , it is as simple as it can be. I play a maryada purushothaman . I have to draw from my own experiences and make sure it is authentic. On top of that, it has to be a role that the audience aspires for. Otherwise, Manu can get easily washed out in a film like that if he does not hold his place.”
On the list
He describes the new breed of audience as a ‘monster whose appetite needs to be catered to’. “Look at Baahubali . It has opened up the screen view. It obviously shows a real change of guard. You need to be aspirational enough for the audience to come and watch your film on a Friday.”
And that involves identifying which script is worthy of cinema, television and the Internet. “You cannot make a film that works more like a short and camouflage that as a feature. You cannot take a feature film content and try to fit it into the framework of a web series. Just knowing that you have a script that is worthy of cinema is a skill that the director and actor need to develop.” Social media, he feels, is a great academic tool for that. “It is a great technique to know what your audience feels about you and how you should modify yourself.” Last but not the least, can we expect a biopic from him sometime? He smiles, “I am doing one. You will hear about it very soon.
