R Madhavan

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R Madhavan was born in a Tamil family in Kolhapur to Ranganathan and Saroja both working in the finance fields. After obtaining a scholarship in a cultural program at a young age where he got to represent India thereby spending one year in Canada after which he completed a degree in electronics. Due to his extensive involvement in extracurricular activities Madhavan landed in a motivational speaker gig which lead him to represent India at Young Businessman Conference, he was finally noticed by Santhosh Sivan in his Ad , who later on recommended Madhavan’s name to Mani Ratnam for a role in his magnum opus Iruvar but after many audition Mani Ratnam opted against casting him as Tamilselvan opposite Mohan Lal, citing his eyes to be too young for the role which made Madhavan shift his attention to Hindi serials which ultimately landed him in cinema afterwards.

Madhavan married Sarita Birje who was an Air Hostess in his teaching days when she was his student, in the year 1999. The couple has one son Vedant Madhavan.

Short stint in Television ( 1996- 1998) After starring in Hindi serials for Zee TV including Banegi Apni Baat, Ghar Jamai and the hugely popular Saya, also working as an anchor in the television show Tol Mol Ke Bol led to entry in to cinema in a guest role in 1996, in the movie Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin. Madhavan thereafter received numerous important roles, in the independent English feature film Inferno which was shot in India, the Kannada production Shanti Shanti Shanti; his first chance in mainstream Indian cinema in the year 1998. Official breakthrough in Tamil cinema ( 2000) Mani Ratnam turned out to be Madhavan’s saviour after all, when he cast Madhavan as the main lead in his cult romantic drama Alaipayuthey opposite Shalini in the year 2000. The highly intense and profound chemistry shared between the lead, the exhilarating screenplay combined with Ratnam’s expertise in handling the theme and A R Rahman’s dreamy album ensured that the movie had a dream run at the box office and was a critical phenomenon with critics praising Madhavan’s highly dazzling looks and boy next door charm that he effortlessly pulled off in his very first major production and the movie is still considered a classic in Indian cinema and “KARTHIK” is to date Madhavan’s most popular character in movies with a huge fan base among the younger audience and Karthik and Sakthi has also been looked upon as one of the most memorable romantic pair in Tamil cinema history. Rise into prominence ( late 2000- 2003) Madhavan after a breath taking debut returned with a mediocre hit in Ennavale which had a good run and he was seen yet again coming up with a major performance again which many critics considered to be one of the strong points of the movie. Gautam Menon was the next in line to cast Madhavan in the lead in his campus based triangle love saga Minnale in 2001, where he was seen alongside Abbas and Reema Sen, which too broke collection records and re-affirmed Madhavan’s credentials as a romantic hero and also was an instant classic. Madhavan followed suit with the highly successful romcom Dumm Dumm Dumm opposite Jyothika all of which added to his star value at that point of time. Madhavan then came up with an astonishing performances In K. Balachander’s drama Paarthale Paravasam and the Hindi remake of Minnale. Both of which were unsuccessful outings but fetched him spectacular reviews. Mani Ratnam casted Madhavan yet again in the lead in his emotional drama Kannathil Muthamittal which narrated the story of an adopted girl who sets out to find her real mother along with her foster parents in Sri Lanka during the Civil War. Madhavan blew away the conventional standards of Tamil cinema by portraying the novelist as an seasoned actor only with a short number of films to his name as of then and the movie was a critical hit with a number of screenings in popular film festival worldwide and also bagged six National Film Awards in the year 2002. The movie also enabled him to break free of the romantic hero title imposed on him and opened up a whole new career prospect for him with distinguished characters coming his way. After a successful detour to the action genre in Run which gained him a State Award in the year 2002 Madhavan could not repeat the magic in his Hindi movie Dil Vil Pyar Vyar. Anbe Sivam saw Madhavan pairing with Kamal Haasan for the first time, the comic drama which was a road movie by nature saw Madhavan delivering a standout act and gained the status of a serious actor with his surprising ease in carrying in his performance of the coming of age character in the critically acclaimed classic movie. Madhavan completed his 2003 with three more mediocre releases in Nala Damayanthi, Priyamana Thozhi and Lesa Lesa which all saw him raising his career graph with astonishing performances. Array of strong footed outings ( 2004- 2008) Madhavan’s major release of 2004 was yet again with his mentor Mani Ratnam in the bilingual anthology political drama Aaytha Ezhuthu, where for the first time in his career took a bold stand to portray the negative character of a ruffian goon “Imba” along with an ensemble cast including Suriya and Siddarth in the lead. The movie saw Madhavan undergoing a total transformation from his usual self to gain weight and also appearing with a shaved head, with some critics praising Madhavan to have risen to the occasion and some even citing Madhavan’s version of the Tamil flick more impactful than the interpretation of Abhishek Bachchan who reprised his role in the Hindi Version Yuva and was also considered his career best performance by many. Madhavan in the same year made his debut in Malayalam cinema with Rajeev Anchal’s crossover emotional drama set in USA where he played a young man with suicidal tendencies who develops a gradual intense relationship with his doctor; the movie received mostly good reviews followed up by Priyasakhi which also saw him sweeping away all the honours for his antics. Shift to Bollywood ( 2005) Madhavan went on to star next in Ramji Londonwaley, the average grosser with strong reviews for his master class performance. Next he had major successes in Aamir Khan’s drama film Rang De Basanti which too was a critical classic and a box office hit with numerous international Awards. After doing a supporting role in Mani Ratnam’s biographical movie Guru starring Abhishek Bachchan in the lead where Madhavan played the real life character of reputed journalist S .Gurumoorthy in business giant Dhirubahi Ambani’s life story; which incidentally too was a master stroke from Madhavan. Return to Tamil cinema ( 2006 ) Madhavan made his presence known in Tamil industry with flicks like Thambi, Rendu and made his maiden entry into production and writing in Nishikanth Kamat’s vigilante drama EvanoOruvan, which he co-financed under his newly found production house Leukos Films which went on to be a master class film and Madhavan was unanimously declared to have come up with his career best in the movie. Although the movie failed at the box office along with his next releases like Vaazhthukal and Naan Aval Adhu. Madhavan once again returned to positive word of mouth for his hard-hitting performance as a man with post- traumatic stress disorder in the docu-drama Mumbai Meri Jhan based on 2006 Mumbai Bombings. Major Career break in 3 idiots ( 2009) After the highly successful Yavarum Nalam in 2009 where he single headedly contributed to the success followed by sleeper hits like Guru En Aaluand Sikander , Madhavan received his next major career break when was cast alongside Aamir Khan and Sharman Joshi , the movie which was a real slap on the educational system in India , fetched Madhavan a Filmfare Award an IIFA Awards for the Best Supporting Actor category in 2010. Three Idiots was a phenomenal critical blockbuster and was the highest grosser of Bollywood until 2013 and is also considered a modern day classic. Madhavan appeared next in the flop movie Teen Patti alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Ben Kingsley although he received excellent reviews for his performance. After collaborating with Kamal Haasan in the comedy Manmadan Ambu in 2010, which saw him coming up with show stealing act. Comic blockbuster in Tanu Weds Manu ( 2011) Madhavan came up in 2011 with a promising character of a doctor who finds his bride as a girl who is totally different from his expectations where he was seen pairing with Kangana Ranaut , which turned out to be a huge blockbuster and also had widespread critical acclaim. He was next seen in Linguswamy’s action comedy movie along with an ensemble cast of Arya and Amala Paul, where he portrayed a timid cop a character which was different from his past movies, and the movie became a commercial and critical hit. Return after a self-imposed sabbatical ( 2015) Madhavan after an unsuccessful flick in the Romcom, Jodi Breakers opposite Bipasha Basu in 2012. He took a three year break from cinema to threat his injured knee during the time of Vettah , only to come back in the year 2015 after reviving himself to suit the tastes of young audiences , Madhavan also during the break had the release of his long delayed Rituparno Ghosh film Taak Jhaank, shot in 2006 which opened to rave reviews. Madhavan during his comeback was signed on for the animated re-telling of Hollywood Zombie Horror film, Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn, of yesteryear classic Night of the Living Dead where Madhavan was seen lending voice to one of the characters in the animated feature. Most recent outings (2015 – present) Madhavan kick started his 2015 with the sequel to the Tanu Weds Manu, in Tanu Weds Manu Returns which was also a massive hit and also garnered critical acclaim and won accolades for his restrained performance. The bilingual sports drama Irudhi Suttru directed by Sudha Kongara , earned Madhavan yet another strong character as a boxing coach who comes to train a girl and won him equally good reviews in the Hindi version too and was a super hit.