New Delhi: Actor R Madhavan, known popularly for his performances in films like ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Guru’ and ‘3 Idiots’ among others, made his directorial debut with ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ in 2022. The film based on the life of Indian rocket scientist Nambi Narayanan, garnered universal acclaim. Madhavan also won a National Film Award for the film in the Best Feature Film category.
During a recent interview with Curly Tales, Madhavan opened up about his preparation for essaying the role of Nambi Narayanan.
Madhavan talks about eating food he was allergic to for 3 months for ‘Rocketry’
Madhavan shared that transitioning from a 29 year old to a 79 year old person even as an actor was not an easy task. Sharing insights on his preparation for the role, Madhavan said, “There’s one place where the real Naran replaces me almost seamlessly and you know I I just hand over the entire story to him and he takes my place and he ends up finishing the film that transition had to be so smooth because it was coming at the peak of an emotional line and I didn’t want people to get distracted and say oh that’s the real they should have assumed obviously and they should keep moving with the crest of the emotion for that it was very essential that his look and my look be as identical as possible and I could not afford to have Prosthetics because if you notice the Prosthetics then everything about the story would look like a lie.
Adding further details about his research for the role of Nambi Narayanan, the actor said, “I did a lot of research to find out how I can put on weight that I can lose quickly so that research took me to a test called applied canology or a sort of an allergy test that tells everybody, every one of us at any given point of time are intolerant to a type of food because of our emotional state. So for 3 months, I only ate cake, I only ate what I was intolerant to so the whole body kind of bloated up. So it was difficult to bend down and tie your laces completely but I looked like him and then I had to grow my hair and then sit for 14 hours to dye my hair to make it look white, there was no wigs, there was nothing no paint it was all real hair dyed. My teeth shape had changed, everything changed.”
The actor then shared what he did after the film’s shoot to lose all the weight. “Once I finished that shoot I went to my favorite place where I in Austria it’s called Vier I stayed there for 21 days and I only ate food that was good for my body no exercise no running no surgery no medication nothing,” he said.
Madhavan lauds Ajay Devgn as ‘generous’ for giving him meatier role in ‘Shaitaan’
R Madhavan essayed the role of the antagonist in the recently released film ‘Shaitaan’ also starring Ajay Devgn and Jyothika. Talking about his experience of working with Ajay Devgn who offered him a meatier role in the film, the ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’ actor said, “I have never worked with a co-star like Ajay (Devgn) sir in my life. Because the level of generosity, his supreme confidence in himself and the product and his absolute generous nature is something I have learnt so much from in the last four months. He is the producer of the film. He could have taken the meatier, the more author backed role. He could have made sure that his heroism was the one that shone through the film.”
Ajay and R. Madhavan’s film ‘Shaitaan’ hit theaters on March 8. Despite receiving mixed reviews initially, the movie proved to be a box office success, earning approximately Rs 150 crore during its theatrical run in India alone. Globally, it surpassed the Rs 200 crore mark, securing its position as the fourth highest-grossing Indian film of 2024.
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