Basking in the success of Vikram Vedha, Madhavan is in a great mind space now. Behind the chocolate boy look is a man brimming with confidence and high moral values. There is always a thing or two to learn from the Irudhi Suttru actor, as he keeps evolving as a human being and an actor from time to time.
In a free-wheeling chat with us, Maddy talks about his mindset before every release, venturing into web-series and his intriguing next projects.
Madhavan’s next project is a Bollywood flick titled Chanda Mama Door Ke, based on rocket-science. He plays a pilot in the film, which also has Sushanth Singh Rajput and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead roles.
“It’s probably going to be one of the most exciting projects in my career,” he begins his conversation, adding, “Right from Apollo 13 to Interstellar, Martian and every other space film, I derive my inspiration from them. But here is the deal — I have to make it better and bigger. Only then the audience will come to the theatres. After watching these films, the challenges have gone up multifold.”
When asked the prerequisites he’d look at before signing a script, he explains, “It has to be appealing and more importantly, it has to have screen-worthiness. The story can be great, but how it renders itself to the celluloid is what matters.
The qualification that takes the script to the large screen is the criteria that I chart down before accepting a film. Once I do that, I’d see how much I can add to the character, physically and mentally. The rest of the things that I do before the camera become instinctive.”
Madhavan is also kicked about his venture into web-series platform with Breathe. “It is a conscious decision! I love great stories and the way they are told. With Mayank Sharma’s Breathe, I believe that I have hit it out of the park again,” he says.
Elaborating on Vikram Vedha’s success, he says, “I was very confident about the content and the way it has been shot. Producer Sashikanth and few others felt that the story was a bit over the top, but I was always confident that the audience would understand. Like I hoped, they did, so the film garnered bigger success than we thought.”
17 years have gone by in this industry, but Maddy still feels jittery on release day. “I get extremely nervous. I pretend to be confident and completely sure of what I’m doing. But, it feels worse than my first film and gets worser with every new film! The nervousness is the predominant feeling during the release,” he reveals.
Having a strong foothold in Tamil and Hindi films has given him more freedom in terms of options. “It gives me a choice of doing more subjects and lets me be part of bigger films. I can choose the subjects I feel completely in sync with, as opposed to doing a film just because I need to be working. My choices have multiplied because of this,” he quips.
Talking about his love for organic farming, he asserts, “I have a great passion for plants and animals. Nurturing my terrace garden in Mumbai keeps me busy and gives me a lot of time to think about my films and it’s very different from the usual outings of an actor. It really enriches me and if I get a chance, I’d set up my huge organic farm one of these days.”
In the future, Madhavan also has Chanda Mama Door Ke and an untitled biopic next on the cards. “It will be an interesting year ahead and — I’d say I’m beginning to play the game right,” he signs off in style.
