Hero with a difference

Wistful and pensive one moment, cheerful and enthusiastic the next, Madhavan touches on many a subject as he talks to ZIYA US SALAM during the filming of "Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein".

LEANING AGAINST the railing of Hagley's Park in Christchurch, R. Madhavan is wistful, his eyes luminous with nostalgia. "I feel sorry for today's children. They have not got a chance to discover Nature. We did it all. I remember climbing trees, plucking fruits. I remember coming back home from the park with mud all over my knees and hands. Today's kids are denied the joy of being themselves. They do not know what it is to run after a fly in the park or to make a splash in the mud. The parents are too protective. We do not let the child get hurt." Apparently, the soothing calm of the world's second largest public park where one can hear the sound of footsteps of an approaching visitor from a distance, has an effect on the man all set to make his Hindi film debut with director Gautam Menon's "Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein".

Starring opposite Ms Asia-Pacific Diya Mirza, Madhavan comes across as a different guy from the average hero of Bollywood. No airs, little affectation. And an uncanny ability to judge a thing dispassionately. Even as the dance director is busy putting Diya through the paces for the dance number, "Zara, zara dekhta hai", he takes time out to sing a hymn or two to Aamir Khan and Farhan Akhtar -- unthinkable in Mumbai where the best compliment to get from a contemporary is often studied silence. "I think we should be proud that we have made such beautiful films in recent months. "Lagaan" was such a wonderful film. It had it all. There was romance, patriotism, national integrity. Who could have thought that it is possible to make a Hindi film with one hour of cricket? But the guy has done it remarkably well. It is such a long film, yet there is not a scene which seems extra! And he has done full justice to the entire cast." He could have gone on for eternity had somebody not reminded him of "Dil Chahta Hai", Farhan Akhtar's film which has done well in metropolises across India but failed to find many takers in smaller centres. "It is a superb film. So fresh. While making a film it is important to know your target audience. DCH is essentially an urban film. What's wrong in targeting the audience in the cities?"

That brings us to his own film produced by Vashu Bhagnani and the peculiar spelling of its name. The credits spell it as "Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein" with an extra `a' and `r'. All for numerological reasons, we are told. Madhavan will have none of it. "I personally do not believe in this numerology business, though, of course, I do not have a say in this matter. It is the producer who decides. But I believe you make a good film, it will run. You make a bad film, it will flop. But a bad film will not be successful because it has certain spellings," he says, even as his wife looks on approvingly.

"In RHTDM we are only trying to make a good fun film which will appeal to the youth. It is a romantic musical," he reveals, then adds mischievously, "maybe with this Hindi film, I will have some more female fan following in the Delhi region." On a more serious note, he states that though he has done a number of TV serials, he struck a rapport with the Hindi belt audience with "Ghar Jamai" which did pretty well in Punjab and Haryana and "Hum Dono". And, of course, the Pepsi commercial helped. For good reason, he is accompanied by his wife on the sets, who not only keeps an eye on her man but also looks after his finances.

How did he meet her? "She was my student at Kolhapur. I used to teach commucation skills. She was in the first batch there.''

``Later, all my students were above 35 in age. At that time, I needed some quick money and there was plenty of it to be made by teaching communication skills."

"Some of the guys had thrown a dinner party after I had won some award. Ever since, she has been serving me dinner", says the man who spent his childhood in "cosmopolitan" Jamshedpur.

The heroine's dance rehearsal over, a unit hand comes to call him for his shot. Off goes the leather jacket, a quick look into the mirror and the man shuts out the world for a few minutes as he prances with Diya Mirza under pine trees, at a handshaking distance from the golf course.

As he prepares to make his bow in the Hindi film world, he remembers to thank Mani Ratnam. "He was prepared to stand by me. He is phenomenal. His energy level and his dedication is something that has to be seen to be believed. He had just come off a major illness. And within a week of being discharged from the hospital, he was back on the sets with the same zeal. If I can have even 10 per cent of his dedication and determination, I will be happy," enthuses Madhavan, adding that he does not undertake more than one film at a time because "I cannot handle two shifts. I cannot be one individual and then another on the same day."

What prompted him to take up acting? "This is the only profession where I can be so many different people in one life. I enjoy my work. In all these years, I have never had to force myself to come to the sets. The day I get up in the morning and feel like not making it for shooting, I will realise that it is time to pack up."

But it is not time to pack up. It is only lunch time and Madhavan merges with the unit hands and presswallahs for a quick bite. Someone offers him a steel thali.

He politely refuses, preferring the disposable lunch box reserved for lesser mortals around. There is pulao, boiled rice, sambhar, dal and pickle on offer. Not bad when one realises that one is standing in New Zealand and not Chennai or Mumbai. But by the time, our man queues up for his fare, the pulao has disappeared and water has become a scarce commodity! He is joined by Diya Mirza, who cannot stop gloating about the local dogs and requests the owner of one such pair to allow them to be shot for a song sequence!

The Hyderabad girl, who has just signed four more films with Bhagnani, is game for a round of antakshari and later snuggles up to the media by playing mind games. She analyses their personality with three questions, which she claims reveal their attitude to life, death and sex. All this while swaying her feet to the music of RHTDM.

Incidentally, while in New Zealand, Madhavan and Mirza also got a chance to pay their respect to the victims of the plane crash in America. Along with Bhagnani and Menon, the duo went across to pay floral tributes to the victims at the Cathedral Square Tower.

"It is only at this time that we realise how utterly vulnerable we all are, to terrorist attacks," says Madhavan, yet again on a tinge of dejection. This time there is no nostalgia in his sigh. Only sadness.

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