Everyone in B-wood is being metrosexual: Madhavan

He clearly doesn’t seem to be in a 6-pack mood, saying he’s not vying for the role of Krrish anyway. And, he readily admits that he has no films in hand now.
“None.” But what’s with the girth? Is it the South films effect or has he put on weight for a specific role? “It’s just an easy guy, happy life case.


Plus, I had a bad year in terms of my knee. Really, really bad. I still can hardly walk or climb up stairs. I haven’t had those three months to take off and go and get physiotherapy done for my legs. I hurt one of my legs while filming “3 Idiots” and then I had my Tamil film “Vettai”, which was an action film and while doing that, I broke my other leg, so now, my legs are in bad shape. It is very difficult to work out.”

And he ignored this? “That holds true for everybody. When you start accepting the fact that you are not young anymore – is the difficult bit, no? As much as it is true for women, it is even more true for men, because we keep thinking that chhote se ghutnay mein dard hai, theek ho jayega. You think you are the alpha male, a bloody tiger, you go to the sets and don’t warm up before you do your dance sequence or your fight sequence, and slowly your body says hello… Buddha ho gaya, bhai! But you realize this only after you start getting curtailed. It’s not an easy job – an actor’s job. It looks like a rosy picture, but I dare anyone to do one day’s scene, and you’ll know how tough it is.”

But it really doesn’t seem tough, looking at his breezy roles… both in Bollywood and down South. Why doesn’t Bollywood accept South ke heroes? The sensibilities demanded are very different. That’s the thing. It is the sensibility. It is not the language. Even if you look at my films in the south, it has always been the ability to select the script – the story that the audience will like to hear, and whether the character and the personality is fit for you. People – if they haven’t had a successful foray into Hindi, then it is very foolish of them to think that it is their background that was responsible for it, or the state that they belong to. It is totally their choice of films to be introduced that makes or breaks them. Being introduced by a Ram Gopal Varma, or XYZ and all that is not enough for you to be accepted by any audience, leave alone Hindi audience. The actors think of it as another hurdle. Tamil hoon, lekin Hindi film kar raha hoon. But that’s not the real challenge. That lies in selecting a script that will work. Obviously, if you are a big star in the South, and you want to enter Bollywood, you cannot choose a film that is likely to work only on your star power, it has to work on the script power. With my choices – in the last 10 years, I have done 8 films and all of them have been stories that in my opinion, could’ve been done by anybody and it still would’ve worked. I mean ” Tanu Weds Manu” – had it been done by Shahid Kapoor or Prateik, or anybody, it would still have worked. And “3 Idiots”, instead of me, had it been Ranveer Singh, it would still have worked. So, it’s just the smart sense in selecting the right script and the people who make those films that matters as opposed to a Madrasi trying to make it big in the Hindi belt or a Hindi guy doing a Madrasi film.”

But initially at least, weren’t you stereotyped? Like made the lungi wearing ‘Aiyyo’ sort of guy? “It has happened to me, yes. But it failed miserably. I had no mentor, and so, I had to figure out everything by myself. So I realized ke bhaiyya, don’t try to play a sad, uneducated guy with a lungi, it is not in your face. Arvind Swamy and I just don’t look like people who belong to an uneducated family, so, why force fit it, you know? Perhaps if I play a Bihari, like I did in “Ramji LondonWale”…I do look like one.”

But in these days of remakes, does this still apply? “But that’s not the logic it works on. Look at “Ekk Deewana Tha” – it’s not doing well at all. It is a huge disaster. And no, it is not because of Prateik. If you take a careful look at the remakes that have been made in the recent past, the Tamil remakes in Hindi – be it “Bodyguard” or other films – the only reason why they worked here was because there has been a huge lack of testosterone in the Hindi film industry for the last 10 years. We’ve been happy making the “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge” kind of love stories which the audience will see, but at the end of the day, it is a Hindi film audience, yaar. It needs a bloody hero who has a deep voice, who is a macho man with bulging muscles and who takes out a water pump and hits people. And he needs a heroine who is a nubile nymphet who runs in the rain and gets into trouble. And he needs a villain whom he wants to box with in the dreams, right? Woh tha nahi. 10-12 saal se everybody is being metrosexual. So, as a result, the Hindi film villains went out the industry. We had to look, and now we had to get Prakash Raj – we’ve had to import from other industries to get villains. I am just saying that that is the reason why a Tamil or Telugu remake is working.

And he said he has no films in hand post “Jodi Breakers”, right? “No film. None.” It was earlier believed that you were not part of the “TWM” sequel. “That’s not true. “TWM” is very much with me. And I think – who cares what anyone says or writes, that’s the bottom line. I mean, what do I say, yaar? Imagine I and Anand Rai have been working on it till, like, some weeks ago. Imagine I am a bloody script freak and I am being pursued by the producers to sign the film as soon as possible and I am saying no to it because I don’t have the script yet. And imagine Shahid is not doing it. How do I answer this without sounding foolish and insecure? I have just decided not to answer it anymore. I don’t want to answer such questions because I cannot go by what a tabloid writes. See, it doesn’t make sense, right? Kangna, Anand and I had a hearty laugh. That’s all I can say.”

So, when will it go on floors? “Unless the script is ready to go on the floor, I don’t even take money from the producer. I will give them my verbal commitment. And I will prove to you how that is true. After “3 Idiots”, I had many offers. But then, I decided I will do “TWM”. Everybody from Aamir to Sharman to Raju (Hirani), were worried. ‘Kya kar raha, abey saale?’ they’d ask me. “Tu saala Tamil film bhi nahi kar raha hai, aur ab ek koi “Tanu Weds Manu” jaisi film kar raha hai. Kaun director hai? Kya film hai?’ they were asking.

And I was telling them trust me, I know what I am doing. And we all really care and worry about each other. And when I finally showed them the film, they liked it. But it was tough for me. Believe me, it is very difficult to make people talk about a film like “TWM” just after “3 Idiots”. I knew that – ke if I did another film like that, I’ll just always be in the shadow of “3 Idiots”. So, I had to do a film that’s different from that. And then, the pressure increased to find another one that works. And believe me, the only credit I want at the end of the day, if all these films work, is that this guy has the ability to choose the right script. Please don’t call me a big hero or anything. But just a guy who knows how to set up his projects. That will make my life much easier.”

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