HYDERABAD: Actor and film-maker R. Madhavan, most recently seen in ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ that was based on space scientist Nambi Narayanan, spoke to students of Indian School of Business (ISB) about how major decisions that he took shaped his career.
Addressing the ISB leadership summit on Saturday, Madhavan said two things drove him to a career in acting – he wanted to be the focus of attention when he walked into a room, and the realisation to listen to instincts and not do work which made him uncomfortable. In a lighter vein, he said the one-word reason for him becoming an actor would be ‘money’.
Madhavan spoke about how he broke several norms of the film industry, such as doing roles in OTT series like ‘Breathe’ and ‘Decoupled’, and not dancing while wearing flashy clothes in scenic locales, or even revealing that he was married. The last, he said, was reportedly a no-no for anyone doing a romantic role in a film.
“After I worked in over 1,800 episodes of a TV show, everybody said I was overexposed and it wouldn’t work in films. Then they said I wouldn’t work in Tamil films as I was too fair. Later, it was stated I was a Tamil actor and I couldn’t do Hindi films,” he recalled.
He narrated anecdotes of how his life experiences as a pilot or an engineer helped him play certain roles. In ‘Rang De Basanti’, he played himself as the IAF pilot. In ‘3 Idiots’, the director and others asked him to lose weight to look the part of a college student.
“But when I went to IIT, I saw everyone was fatter than me. So I just got a clean shave and did not lose any weight. In a photograph that I, Aamir (Khan) and Sharman (Joshi) took with IIT students, we actually look younger than them,” he said.
As part of the summit, talks and panel discussions about leadership and management were held by speakers from multiple domains, including business leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, actors, sportspersons, bureaucrats, content creators, influencers and ISB alumni.
