After staying away from the limelight for almost two years, Madhavan is back with two films Rajkumar Hirani’s Saala Khadoos and the sequel of Tanu Weds Manu. He plays a bulky, bearded and aggressive boxing coach in the former, which is being touted as the desi version of Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby.
Connecting with us from New Zealand where he is holidaying with wife Sarita and son Vedaant, Madhavan dismisses the comparison. “Look, if you have a film about a boxing coach and his female protégée, it’s bound to look like Million Dollar Baby. But Saala Khadoos is not Million Dollar Baby.”
Interestingly, Maddy did no other film for nearly two years to maintain the bulky look for the boxing coach’s role. Was it difficult keeping away from the limelight? “I know it’s out-of-sight-out-of-mind, but there was no insecurity in me about being forgotten by my audience. I’ve been around for too long to let absence frighten me,” says the actor.
Madhavan began shooting for the sequel to Tanu Weds Manu after he completed Saala Khadoos. “The day I shaved off my beard I started shooting for Tanu Weds Manu 2. It’s an entirely different world. In Saala Khadoos I am stocky, snarling and bearded. In Tanu Weds Manu 2 I am lean, gentle and clean-shaven. I am very excited by the response to the trailer of Saala Khadoos. Infact, the best compliment I received was, ‘We could not recognise you in the trailer of Saala Khadoos.’ To be honest, I couldn’t recognise myself.”
