First things first —
R. Madhavan looks nothing like the sweet boy I had a massive crush on growing up. When I dropped in to meet the actor who has been MIA (missing in action, sillies!) from Bollywood for the last three years, he is sporting a full beard (think Tom Hanks in Cast Away) and long hair. The white kurta he is wearing can barely conceal his muscular frame. Thankfully, this transformation doesn’t extend to his personality. If anything, the 44-year-old is sounding more Zen and level-headed than before. “This sabbatical I took has helped me look at everything around me in a new light,” he says. As he tucks into a super-healthy lunch, we chat about his Friday film Tanu Weds Manu Returns, romance in the WhatsApp generation and why he calls himself a “haraami actor”.
Where have you been?!
(Laughs out loud) All over the place.
I had become bored of the kind of acting I was doing… I was upset with the kind of work I was doing. At the same time, I thought I was being overconfident and the work I was getting was mundane. So, I wanted to figure out if people would still want me if I went away. I needed to push myself into a corner and humiliate myself…not have any work, so I did that. I took a sabbatical for three years. Fortunately for me, when I came back, there was Saala Khadoos and Tanu Weds Manu Returns to fall back on. Judging by all the reactions, it seems like people are happy that I am back (smiles).
Most actors thrive on public adulation. Walking away from that and taking this sabbatical must have been tough for you?
I grew my hair and beard so people wouldn’t recognise me. People wouldn’t even give me a second look. I was travelling by trains and buses. I’d sit by the roadside and have tea.
What did you do in these three years?
I lived like a vagabond. I learnt to ski. I’ve started hydroponics which is gardening without soil. I grow vegetables on the terrace of my apartment. There’s enough for my weekly requirements. I love motorbikes and I have learnt to fix them myself. I learned to box which was a requirement for a film that I had decided to produce (Saala Khadoos).
I understood what makes the public tick today… like how technology is shaping our lives. Phones and iPads have changed how grandparents communicate or people fall in love. People flirt on WhatsApp and fall in love over Facebook. Everything around us is changing today. I could have never learnt or understood these things if I was shooting 24x7 or living within 20 square kilometres of Andheri. Now I know that the cheapest cup of cutting chai you can get would cost Rs 8. There are families that survive on Rs 15,000 a month which, when I entered the industry, was a princely sum. Now, you can barely survive in a city with that money. This sabbatical was exactly what I needed.
You are obviously back with renewed energy. Is there going to be a whole new approach to what kind of work you do?
Yes. There is a new-found confidence which, I think, is a basic requirement of humility. It’s made me believe that the change of guard will happen eventually. You have to just keep yourself aspiring for better and bigger things. When someone comes to watch you in a theatre, you better give him or her more than just ‘good’. You have to give your audience more than what they expect. The films that I want to do should be a reflection of the smartphone generation. Even if it is a historical, it needs to be smart. The audience should be not be able to predict which way the film goes.
Tanu Weds Manu Returns is the first sequel you have done. Was it easy to get back to a character that you had thought you were done with?
It’s a very good question. It was both easy and tough. You can’t create a character like Manu from the top of your head, you have to invest a little of yourself in him. Not that I was expecting a sequel to happen but I left a part of my soul in Manu. When I had to become Manu again, I just tapped into that. It was easy because I knew him so well that I knew exactly how he’d react and what he’d say in different circumstances. So, I could help Aanand L. (Rai, director and writer) in decoding Manu.
In the earlier film, Kangana Ranaut’s Tanu being a firebrand was more memorable than your Manu…
And it’s no different this time around! Kangana still has all the cool lines. To make matters worse, she now has a double role! I told Aanand that I should be insecure because I was going to play second fiddle. And, that’s the beauty of taking a sabbatical… I know that the odds are stacked up against me but I also know that both of Kangana’s characters also fall in love with my character. My character might not be loud or have too many dialogues…Tanu even calls him fat but… I am a haraami actor. In spite of all these odds, I know people will like me in the film.
It was interesting that you mentioned the weight problem. It’s been a battle for you.
Have you seen me in Saala Khadoos?
No...
Okay. (Picks up his phone and scrolls through photos to show a picture of him with long hair, beard and all muscles) This was how I was two weeks before I started shooting Tanu Weds Manu Returns. My biceps were 18 inches and I had the largest shoulders in the industry. When Aanand saw me, he said: ‘Maddy, you can’t look like someone who’d pick Tanu on your shoulders and drop her on your bed’! (Laughs) I lost almost all the muscle in a very short period of time.
Coming back to your question about my weight, if today you tell me, ‘Maddy, get a body that women would like to eat for breakfast and all your films will be a hit’, I’ll go to the gym five hours a day. Forget all my films, guarantee me even 30 per cent success and I’ll start working out. There are gyms in every nook and cranny of this country.
There was a time people looked in awe at Salman Khan or Sanjay Dutt’s physique, but today even junior artistes have those bodies; they have eight packs and better dress sense than I have. But my body is not making people come to a theatre. The only thing that has stood the test of time, if you see the likes of Rajinikanth, Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan... is their talent to make a character come alive on screen. It is important that I look the part so if I have to play a commando and I land up on the set with a paunch, you are entitled to kick my ass. So weight has never been a deterrent.
Tanu Weds Manu Returns looks at romance in marriage and Sarita and you have been married for 16 years now. What is the secret?
There is no marriage in the world where the couple haven’t looked at each other and said ‘f**k it, I want out’. This happens at least once, if not more times. I think a successful marriage is one where you honestly can’t imagine a life without the other person. For a guy, once he is married the hunt is over. It’s time for him to focus on aspects like career. So, expecting him to be romantic in the traditional sense…the whole flowers and chocolates is foolish. He did all that to woo you and now he has moved on.
Romance after marriage is more about smaller things instead of grand gestures. Also, I think men also go through menopause which is more psychological and then physical. He knows he is losing the Alpha male status in this family. As men grow older, they start becoming more and more dependent on the wife. You have to be ready for that transition.
Karishma Upadhyay
In Calcutta, t2 met Madhavan at The Park for a quick chat…
‘TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS HAS A POSITIVE VIBE’
For the first time in my life, I am sitting on a film that seems to have such a positive vibe… even before release. There’s always nervousness whether the film will work or not… and this goes for this one as well, but there’s also relief because everybody seems to have heard about the film, everybody is eager to watch the film. That’s a very rare position to be in as far as this industry is concerned.
‘THERE ARE DAYS WHEN YOU DON’T WANT TO GO NEAR YOUR WIFE!’
I took a lot of what’s in the film from my own marriage. There are some days in the month, when you don’t want to go near your wife! (Laughs) You want to stay away as far away as possible and I hope Sarita (wife) won’t read this! But there are times when after the whole day, you don’t want to do anything else, but just go home to her. That’s the beauty of marriage… there are ups and downs, there are good days and there are bad days, but at the end of the day, you know there is someone out there waiting for you, looking out for you, no matter what.
‘THE COMMON MAN IS WHAT I BELIEVE IN PLAYING’
Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein was a film that released 15 years ago and it was a flop. But today, everyone talks about that film which goes to show that when you do a film that’s aspirational and reflects the uncommon story of a common man like RHTDM did, then the audience will remember it and remember you in it, no matter what its box-office status was. What you saw in that film was a reflection of my life. I grew up in Jamshedpur and had all the odds stacked against me when I came into this industry… and I would like to believe that I made it, on my own steam. My ability and choice to play everyday characters is what has endeared me to audiences — whether it is RHTDM, Rang De Basanti, Ramji Londonwaley or 3 Idiots. It’s easy for me to play a larger-than-life muscular guy who beats up 10 goons at a go — I have done that in my Tamil films — but the common man is what I believe in playing.
I don’t actively lobby for roles, I don’t dress for the occasion…. My PR tells me that I am the lousiest celebrity because they can’t find any affairs that they can make news out of. Even my wife has got bored of my image. She keeps saying: ‘Come on, do something!’ But not doing any of that, I feel, has given me a certain level of respect among my fans and peers and I am grateful for that. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
‘HOLLY IS BEATING THE PANTS OUT OF BOLLY’
I feel it’s your work that keeps you afloat. I have been totally out of Hindi films… not an ad, not a special appearance, nothing… but I don’t seem to have encountered the out-of-sight-out-of-mind syndrome at all. Actually, all they have to do now is just tap on the keyboard, get on to YouTube and do a Dubsmash of some old song or scene of yours and you are back in circulation (smiles). You know, I feel good to come back at a time when the industry is kind of going through a bit of a lull. Hollywood is beating the pants out of us… look at The Avengers and the new Fast & Furious film (Furious 7). It’s time Bollywood came up with great content… Piku has shown the way. Hopefully, we in Bollywood will pull up our socks as the year goes on.
Priyanka Roy
