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R. Madhavan

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Madhavan. R
Born
Ranganathan Madhavan
Other namesMaddy
Height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Websitewww.rmadhavan.com

R. Madhavan (Tamil: ஆர்.மாதவன்) (b. 1 June 1970, Jamshedpur, India), also called Maddy, is a prominent regional Indian film actor,[1] a game show host,[2] a mobile game character,[3] and an active PETA campaigner.[4] He started to act in Hindi television serials and appear in advertisements and commercials before he started his film acting career. He currently acts in regional industries across India with the Tamil film industry being his main focus.[5] Madhavan has also acted in Hindi films,[6] English films,[7] Telugu films,[8] Malayalam cinema,[9] the Kannada film industry,[10] and the Bengali film industry.[11] Madhavan is fondly known by his fans as the Chocolate Hero.[12]

Madhavan's breakout role as a leading actor came two years after his film career began, with 2000's Alaipayuthey by director Mani Ratnam, after which he became a pin-up boy because of his performance as Karthik. The film gave him a solid foundation to build his career. Several other films he has starred in have become blockbusters in South India; due to this, he has also built up a prominent market for his films in Bollywood and in overseas markets.

As a seasoned actor, Madhavan began to take on more varied roles and projects, including another Mani Ratnam film, Aayitha Ezhuthu where he portrayed the gangster Inba. While filming Ramji Londonwale, he caught the eye of UTV, and became a game host in Deal Ya No Deal, but it only lasted for one series. Madhavan is a prominent figure in India's entertainment business.

Personal life

Madhavan's parents are Ranganathan and Saroja, and he has a younger sister Devika.[13] Madhavan's father was in the army and his mother is a homemaker. Devika is an aspiring model. In 1988, Madhavan was chosen to represent India as its cultural ambassador from his college to Canada after his graduation. At 22, he was awarded the Maharashtra Best Cadet, allowing him to make a trip with three others as NCC Cadets to England. Because of this honour, he received training with the Royal Army, Navy and the Air Force. Madhavan then began a ten-day crash course on Public Speaking, where he met his future wife, Saritha. They married after three years of courtship.[14] They have a son, Vedaant, who was born in 2006.[15] Madhavan, a self-professed animal lover and an advertiser for PETA, personally owns two dogs, Simbha and Princess; he also owns a parrot.

Madhavan has recently moved to the Boat Club area of Chennai from his rented house in Kilpauk.[16] He has a rapport with several experienced actors in the industry, especially Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan, both of whom have worked with him in several projects.[17] Madhavan is well known for his vegetarianism and has advertised several brands.[18]

Film career

1997 - 2003

Madhavan was a popular face on Indian television even before he made his maiden film debut. He had acted in Hindi television serials like Saaya, Sea Hawks, Banegi Apni Baat, and Ghar Jamai in minor and brief roles.[19] Director Santosh Sivan saw him during the shoot of an advertisement commercial for Ponds Soap and took some photographs of him which he handed to the famous director Mani Ratnam.

In 1997, following Santosh Sivan's request, Madhavan then auditioned for a part in the critically-acclaimed movie, Iruvar,[7] starring Mohanlal, Prakash Raj and Aishwarya Rai and directed by Mani Ratnam. Mani Ratnam was pleased with Madhavan's capabilities but wanted a senior actor to play Madhavan's part, so Mani Ratnam confirmed Madhavan could be a part of his next project as a sorry plea.

In late 1997, Madhavan made his debut in films, with a small role as an Indian Inspector in the Hollywood film Inferno co-starring Don "The Dragon" Wilson. His debut in Indian movies came in the form of Shanti Shanti Shanti, a Kannada-language movie co-starring Abbas and Prakash Raj. The film performed well at the Kannada box-office but when it was dubbed into Tamil after Madhavan's Tamil debut it lowered Madhavan's status in the tamil film industry after Alaipayuthey.

He got his first big break when Mani Ratnam called him up again, for his next project. He introduced Madhavan to Tamil Cinema through the film Alaipayuthey. Produced by Madras Talkies, it told the tale of the intricate relationships after marriage and the problems that occur along the way. He was paired with Shalini Kumar, an experienced actress, for the film. The film grossed over Rs 50 million at the box office and became Madhavan's first blockbuster project. Madhavan went on a signing-spree for various films due to his new found fame status.

His next highly-anticipated film, Ennavale, starring Sneha dwelled on the subject of disability flopped, but Gautham Menon's debut venture, Minnale became his second surprise blockbuster. Minnale explored the views of college enemies vying for a love after a decade without contact. The film grossed over Rs 75 million at the box office. The music also was a huge success rendered by debutant, Harris Jayaraj. Gautham Menon and Madhavan then remade this in Bollywood as Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein with Diya Mirza and Saif Ali Khan, which however despite gaining profits from the music sale of the film, did not do well at the box-office.

Madras Talkies's next production was the comedy, Dumm Dumm Dumm became another landmark film in his career, in which he co-starred with Jyothika Saravanan was then followed by veteran director K. Balachandar's 100th film, Parthale Paravasam with Simran Bagga and Sneha. Despite a big opening and high expectations, it only managed reasonable business at the box-office. His third blockbuster, Run was a landmark film for Madhavan as it won him Filmfare Best Actor Award South in the Filmfare Awards South ceremony. Run, directed by Linguswamy, told the simple story of a brother opposing his sister's love, but the screenplay and the telling of the story was slick and well-appreciated. The film grossed over Rs 75 million at the box office and the Kollywood trade began comparing Madhavan with top established actors in Kollywood like Ajith Kumar and Vijay.

The film is remade in Hindi which starred Abhishek Bachchan and Bhumika Chawla in the roles of Madhavan and Meera Jasmine, who debuted in the original. Mani Ratnam chose Madhavan again with Simran Bagga in the critically acclaimed blockbuster, Kannathil Muthamittal, which explored the views of an adopted child affected in war-torn Sri Lanka. The film's lead cast was praised by critics and won several awards at the Indian National Film Awards. He then had a second attempt at Bollywood with the multi-starrer, Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, but once again his Hindi film flopped. His next project, Anbe Sivam with Kamal Haasan did well at the box-office. It was labelled by many as one of the finest films made and his co-star, Kamal Haasan received particular praise for his infamous portrayal of a street campaigner.

R. Madhavan's following film projects such as Vikraman's Priyamana Thozhi with Jyothika Saravanan, Saran's Jay Jay with Pooja Umashankar, Reema Sen and Nisha Kothari and K. S. Ravikumar's Aethiree with Sadha and Kanika Subramaniam, didn't receive good reports by critics and were average-grossers at the box-office demoting Madhavan's prestige in the industry. Madhavan was criticized for ignoring the stories of the films and just playing the lead role in them. Even though Priyamana Thozhi was directed by National Award winner, Vikraman, the film received a poor opening and the film lost out. The film told the story of two friends who were mistaken for lovers. Jay Jay, directed by Saran in which he was paired with then debutants, Pooja Umashankar and Nisha Kothari, only did average business. Aethiree directed by noted director, K. S. Ravikumar opposite Sadha and Kanika despite being a musical hit flopped at the box-office. Madhavan then teamed up with Nassar to act in an English film entitled Nothing But Life which was played at various International Film Festivals around Asia, it released in India in 2005; however, Madhavan commented in October 2006 that it is a film he would like to forget.

2004 – present

Madhavan has since come back from his small period of slumps with successful projects such as the multi-starrer Aayitha Ezhuthu, directed by Mani Ratnam, where he played an off-beat negative role as a fighter for a politician. He co-starred with Surya Sivakumar, Siddarth Narayan, Trisha Krishnan, Meera Jasmine and Esha Deol. Madhavan won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award South for the portrayal of the character Inba, which was played by Abhishek Bachchan in Yuva, the Bollywood version of the movie simultaneously released by Mani Ratnam. He then continued his success at the box-office with hits such as Priyasakhi, a family orientated film with Sadha which became the first film to be the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Zulu. After approximately 8 months, off the screen, he came back with the long-pending film, Thambi as a Mahatma Gandhi-Subash Chandra Bose figure who sacrifices his life to stop growing forms of violence. The film despite receiving negative reviews from critics became a super hit and Madhavan received rave reviews for his portrayal of the character, Thambi Velu Thodaiman He has since boosted his chances in Bollywood with the role of Ajay Rathod in the Hindi blockbuster, Rang De Basanti which was chosen as India's official entry to the 2006 Academy Awards. His next movie Rendu, released in November 2006, saw him play his debut double-role, in which he played a blind man in a one of his roles. The film is heading for a Golden Jubilee run in several theatres in Chennai, the film's shoots were completed within two months. His latest project released on January 12 wass Mani Ratnam's Guru, which he stars along with Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vidya Balan and Mallika Sherawat. In Guru, he played the role of an antagonist who opposes the ideas of the character played by Abhishek Bachchan. The film also contained Madhavan's first on-screen kiss with Vidya Balan, the film, since release, has become the biggest blockbuster of the year in Bollywood. Most recently he appeared in a guest role as himself in Prabhu Ganesan's Delhii Heights.

Madhavan has several projects which are in the production stages. Forthcoming projects in the shooting faze include Arya alongside Bhavana Balachandran, Evano Oruvan a remake of a popular Marathi film, Dombvili Fast, co-starring with Sangeetha and being produced by the Hindi directors, Abbas Burmawalla and Mustan Burmawalla, Madhavan also wrote the dialogues for the film. He also has a Hindi-Bengali bilingual, Sunglass co-starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Jaya Bachchan and Raima Sen set to release in March 2007. Madhavan has also signed up to two Ram Gopal Varma production films, the first being a bi-lingual productionLeelai/Adi Oka Idhi Le in which he is paired with Shamita Shetty and Sadha, for the third time, and he also has Yaaravan Nalam a Tamil-Hindi bilingual which is to take off late in 2007. Another film in the waiting is Seeman's Pagalavan will give Madhavan a strong character like the one in Thambi. He has also given call sheets for films titled Oru Naal Podhuma directed by Prathap Pothan set to pair with him with debutant, Rukmini, Vaazhthukal with Seeman for the third time, portraying him as a romantic hero, Bombay High and a Hindi film paired with Tabu. He has recently signed for Deepa Mehta's new English language film, Stella co-starring Brendan Fraser and Vidya Balan. The film is set to begin it shooting in September 2007.

He took part in Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai in 2006 alongside many other co-stars to show his signal of thanks to his mentor, who had introduced him into the industry. He recently hosted the third season of Deal Ya No Deal on Doodarshan TV.

Game host

Main article: Deal Ya No Deal

R. Madhavan was announced as the host of Sony Entertainment Television's Deal Ya No Deal, the Indian version of the American game show Deal Or No Deal, in October 2005 with a payment of Rs 10 million per separate series. The show was being produced by Miditech, in association with Endemol BV. Deal Ya No Deal is a game show, testing the participant for speed, reflexes, wit, cunning and gaming skills. The contestant may win up to Rs. 10 million in a show. The contestant faces 22 cash boxes, containing cheques varying from a small amounts to Rs 10 million. Without knowing the contents, the contestant picks a single sealed box, for themselves to keep until the end of the show. It premièred on November 23, 2005 on Sony Entertainment Television and aired on three nights each week. The first series had a set similar to the UK version, and the theme song and music cues were the same as those used in the Dutch version. Contestants held the cases. There is a top prize of 1 crore rupees ($10 million), and the lowest prize was a breath freshener, called a Chlor-mint.

Madhavan quit as the lead anchor of the game show, Deal Ya No Deal in January 2006. Madhavan claimed he was unhappy with the way the shoot schedules were handled by the production house. According to the actor, when he took on the show, he had made it clear that he would continue with his South film assignments, and as the show was being filmed in Mumbai, he had found it hard to keep travelling throughout India from Chennai to film the ten days a month he had signed up for. The ever-changing look of the show meant Madhavan had to constantly rehearse. Madhavan also added that he was restricted by the producers to spend one day rehearsing technically, which left him with fatigue.

There were also some testing times, like when he shot for the show immediately after the funeral of his grandfather, when there was a celebrity special. Mandira Bedi replaced Madhavan as the anchor in February for Series 2 of the game show. Since then she has also left the set-up for personal unconfirmed reasons. He was also one of the guest judges in the Indian television show, Fame Gurukul which ended on October 20, 2005.

Mobile gaming character

A Mumbai based game development company, Paradox signed a worldwide contract Madhavan to create six mobile-based games based on him and his film roles. While launching the first game, Madhavan's MiG in Chennai, Madhavan expressed his delight at being involved in projects aimed at young people. The 'paper-player' model would cost Rs 5 per download, while a one-time download would range from Rs 50-99, he said. The games, which consists of three levels, would be available on Reliance, Idea and Spice mobile services.

Madhavan's MIG game will feature the actor make a reprise of his Rang De Basanti pilot role and the game will be based around basic steering of the planes. In the other game titled Madhavan, the player will have to help the actor get to the premiere of his latest movie evading the paparazzi. Paradox has been developing games for wireless devices, apart from single and multi-player games for PC, web and allied platforms since 2001. Madhavan said the concept of couple of the games had been derived from his role of a pilot in the recent Hindi blockbuster, Rang De Basanti, in which he flew an MiG 29 aircraft.[20]

PETA campaign

Main article: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Madhavan is an Indian campaigner for animals through PETA.[21] India's new animal care program. In a public service announcement in October 2006 he released an e-card called, "Change Everything", in which it encourages young people to go vegetarian. A poster was released of him in which he posed crouched in a cage and looking desperate signifying the life for animals on India’s growing number of factory farms. When asked in an interview by Rediff.com he answered, It's simple — I love animals, so I do not eat them. Madhavan has also desired his respect for other national groups such as the GEA and the RSPCA.

Madhavan's PSA showed footage of chickens who are crammed into crowded, filthy sheds as well as the treatment of cattle during slaughter. The video contains music by international vegan star Moby and colorful photographs and quotes from other vegetarian celebrities, like Shilpa Shetty, Mallika Sherawat, Bryan Adams, Gwyneth Paltrow, Pamela Anderson and Anil Kumble. All these stars and Madhavan campaigned for the project.

Filmography

Year Film Co-Stars Language Role Director Notes
2008 Yavarum Nalam[22] Kareena Kapoor Tamil Vikram Announced
Simultaneously to be made in Hindi
2008 Pagalavan[23] Tamil Seeman Announced
2008 Mumbai Meri Jaan[24] Soha Ali Khan, Irfan Khan Hindi Nishikanth Kamath Announced
2008 Stella [25] Vidya Balan, Brendan Fraser English Deepa Mehta Announced
2008 Oru Naal Podhuma[26] Rukmani Tamil Pratap Pothan Announced
2007 Vaazhthukal [27] Bhavana Balachandran Tamil Seeman Announced
2007 Leelai Shamita Shetty, Sadha Tamil Kona Venkat In Production
Simultaneously being made in Telugu as, Adi Oka Idhi Le
2007 Sunglass Konkona Sen Sharma, Raima Sen Hindi Rituparno Ghosh Post-Production
2007 Evano Oruvan [28] Sangeetha Tamil Sridhar Vasudevan Nishikanth Kamath Post-Production
2007 Arya Bhavana Balachandran, Tejashree Tamil Arya Balasekaran To be released on 6 July 2007
2007 Delhii Heights [29] Jimmy Shergill, Neha Dhupia Hindi R. Madhavan[30] Anand Kumar Cameo appearance
2007 Guru Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Aishwarya Rai, Mallika Sherawat Hindi Shyam Saxena[31] Mani Ratnam Dubbed into Tamil as Guru and Telugu as Gurukanth
2006 Rendu Reema Sen, Anushka Shetty Tamil Sakthi, Kannan Sundar C Dubbed in to Telugu as Rendu
2006 Thambi Pooja Umashankar Tamil Thambi Thodaiman Seeman
2006 Rang De Basanti Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Siddharth Narayan, Alice Patten, Kunal Kapoor Hindi Ajay Rathod Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Dubbed in to English as Paint It Yellow
2005 Ramji Londonwaley Amitabh Bachchan, Sameera Bangargi Hindi Ramji Londonwale Sanjay Daima
2005 Priyasakhi Sadha Tamil Sandhana Krishnan K. S Adiyaman Dubbed in to Zulu as Priyasakhu

Dubbed in to Telugu as Priyasakhi

2004 Aayitha Ezhuthu Surya, Siddharth Narayan, Trisha Krishnan, Esha Deol, Meera Jasmine Tamil Inba Shekar Mani Ratnam Winner: Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award (Tamil)
Dubbed in to Telugu as Yuva
2004 Aethiree Sadha, Kanika Subramaniam Tamil Subramani K. S. Ravikumar Dubbed in to Telugu as Bottle Mani
2004 Nothing But Life Nassar, Kaveri English Thomas Roberts Rajiv Anchal Dubbed in to Malayalam as Made in USA
2003 Jay Jay Pooja Umashankar, Nisha Kothari, Reema Sen Tamil Jegan Saran Dubbed in to Telugu as Jay Jay
2003 Priyamana Thozhi Jyothika Saravanan, Sree Devi, Vineeth Tamil Ashok Vikraman
2003 Lesa Lesa Trisha Krishnan, Shaam Tamil Deva Narayanan Priyadarshan Guest Appearance
2003 Nala Damayanthi Geetu Mohandas, Kamal Haasan Tamil Ramji Mouli
2003 Anbe Sivam Kiran Rathod, Kamal Haasan Tamil Anbarasu C.Sundar Winner: Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award (Tamil)
Dubbed in to Telugu as Satyame Sivam
2002 Dil Vil Pyar Vyar Jimmy Shergill, Namrata Shirodkar, Sanjay Suri, Sonali Kulkarni, Riya Sen Hindi Karthik Anant Mahadevan Dubbed to Tamil as Kaettavarellam Paadalam
2002 Run Meera Jasmine, Atul Kulkarni Tamil Siva Lingusamy Winner: Filmfare Best Actor Award (Tamil)
Dubbed in to Telugu as Run
2002 Kannathil Muthamittal Simran Bagga, Nandita Das Tamil Thiruchelvan Mani Ratnam Dubbed in to Telugu as Amrutha
Dubbed in to English as A Peck on the Cheek
2001 Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein Dia Mirza, Saif Ali Khan Hindi Madhav Shastri Gautham Menon
2001 Parthale Paravasam Simran Bagga, Sneha, Kamal Haasan Tamil Madhava K. Balachander Dubbed in to Telugu as Paravasam
2001 Dumm Dumm Dumm Jyothika Saravanan Tamil Aditya Alaga Perumal Dubbed in to Telugu as Dum Dum Dum
2001 Minnale Reema Sen, Abbas Tamil Rajesh Gautham Menon Dubbed in to Telugu as Cheli
2000 Ennavale Sneha Tamil James Vasanth Suresh Dubbed in to Telugu as Ninnu Choosaka
2000 Alaipayuthey Shalini Kumar Tamil Karthik Mani Ratnam Winner: Filmfare Best Male Debut (Tamil)
Dubbed in to Telugu as Sakhi
1999 Shanti Shanti Shanti Abbas, Harini Kannada Siddharth Srinivas Dubbed in to Tamil as Relax
1998 Inferno Don Wilson English Ravi Fred Olen Ray Also known as Operation Cobra

Further reading

  • Ramaswamy, Cho (2002). Madhavan: The Chocolate Boy. Radaan. ISBN 1-57243-689-1.

References

  1. ^ "Mad about Madhavan". The Hindu. July 13, 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  2. ^ Siddiqui, Rana (January 20, 2006). "Madhavan's moment". The Hindu. Retrieved 2007-05-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Play `Madhavan' on your mobile". The Hindu. July 6, 2006. Retrieved 2007-05-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ "Peta Launches New Ad Featuring Madhavan Imprisoned In Tiny Cage 'Like An Animal'" (Press release). PETA India. May 2002. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  5. ^ "Profile: Madhavan (R.Madhavan)". webindia123.com (Suni Systems (P) Ltd.). 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-25. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "It's silly to slot filmmakers". webbindia123.com Suni Systems (P) Ltd. 2007.
  7. ^ a b "'People remember scenes, not episodes'". Rediff. March 8, 2000.
  8. ^ "Maddy enters Telugu movies". Y! India Movies. December 1, 2006.
  9. ^ "Maddy speaks Malayalam". The Hindu. December 1, 2006.
  10. ^ "I am a great fan of Sridevi:Prema". Times Of India. January 5, 2001.
  11. ^ "Madhavan replaces Sanjay Suri in 'Sunglass'". Indiainfo.com Limited. August 14, 2006.
  12. ^ "Pachai Nirame". LeechVideo. January 14, 2000.
  13. ^ "Madhavan's profile South Movies". WebIndia. August 31, 2006.
  14. ^ "Madhavan and Sarita". WebIndia. August 30, 2006.
  15. ^ "Madhavan has a baby son". WebIndia. August 31, 2006.
  16. ^ "Madhavan in a new home & lifestyle game". Sify. August 31, 2006.
  17. ^ "Mani Ratnam's Golden Boy". CineScene. September 3, 2006.
  18. ^ "R. Madhavan on food and fitness". IndiaFM. September 18, 2006.
  19. ^ "I have always broken the Rules:Madhavan". Unplugged TV Guide. October 18, 2006.
  20. ^ "Madhavan launches video games". Galatta. December 21, 2006.
  21. ^ "Madhavan advertises for New Indian PETA Campaign". PETA-India. September 21, 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ "Kareena pairs with Madhavan". TamilStar. May 18, 2007.
  23. ^ "Madhavan drenched in 'Magizhchi' rains!". Cinesouth. October 17, 2006.
  24. ^ "Madhavan again in Nishikanth's Next". TamilStar. May 11, 2007.
  25. ^ "Deepa's next with Vidya Balan and Madhavan". IndiaFM. November 17, 2006.
  26. ^ "Madhavan as a Srilankan Tamil?". TamilStar. March 10, 2007.
  27. ^ "Madhavan's Cop Role". TamilStar. May 12, 2007.
  28. ^ "Sangeetha opposite Madhavan". Indiaglitz Tamil. November 1, 2006.
  29. ^ "Madhavan in Hindi film 'Delhi Heights'". Indiaglitz. December 6, 2006.
  30. ^ "Madhavan's 'Delhi Heights'". Sify. December 07, 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ "indiafm.com". The characters from Mani Ratnam's "Guru" introduce themselves. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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