Madhavan: Never Knew Turning 50 Would Be So Hectic Even In Lockdown

Tamil-Hindi superstar Madhavan thought he would quietly turn 50 on June 1  during the lockdown when  everything  was shut down.

Little  did  he know!

“I thought it would be a quiet birthday during this lockdown. But  to my surprise I was  inundated with  birthday wishes . It’s been  a huge emotional  rollercoaster  ride  for me. But totally in a happy positive way,” says Maddy.

Fans  sent Madhavan videos from all  across the world. “I’ve  never experienced such a collective  surge   of love before. But the  biggest surprise  was the  90-minute  video put together  by  my wife Sarita  and  my son  Vedant. It left me simply overwhelmed. Really,I couldn’t ask for more.”

Since  his birthday Madhavan has been  diligently trying to reply to every birthday  message. “And I still  have  around 800 messages  to  reply to.. It’s been really crazy. And that’s a good thing, I guess.”

Last year  for his  birthday Madhavan  was in Belgrade  without his family,  far from home.

“So this year I guess I am  happier at 50 than I was at 49,” quips  the  actor who has done it all from television to Mani Ratnam.

Never fearful  of breaking moulds, way back in the  early 1990s  when television was still in its infancy  Madhavan became  a full-fledged television  star with Ghar Jamai , Sea Hawks  ,Banegi Apni Baat.

“And today,  look at Sophie Turner  from The Game Of Thrones. She  is bigger than the biggest movie stars,” says Madhavan as he  steps into a new phase  in his life.

Madhavan is getting ready  his  bio-pic on  Nambi Narayanan who  gave his life to space research. Madhavan  is  not only playing  the legendary Nambi Naryanan  in Rocketry The Nambi Effect , he’s also directing  the  bio-pic and that too in multiple languages.

Says Maddy,  “I’ve given three years of my life  to put together this  great man’s story. We’ve travelled to  several continents and  through several eras to preserve the authenticity  of the  storytelling. I’ve had the privilege of working with some  really  big names  from international cinema who were only too glad to be  part of a story that had  to be told.”

Shooting the  story through various  decades was  not easy.  “We couldn’t just follow the fashion trends  of  the specific eras. Scientists are  not known to be  fashion conscious. They  live in  their own world. We  had  to  make them look  credible  and at  the same time not too representative  of  the era. It  wasn’t easy. But we’ve  finally  completed the shooting. And we ‘ll soon be into post-production.”

Maddy , as he is known across  the Tamil film industry and  Bollywood, feels  the  time to tell Nambi Narayanan’s story is now. “There is  a hunger in  the  audience to know about the true heroes of our country. Nambi Narayanan was  a much-misunderstood genius who  dedicated  his life to the  country. I am proud  to have got the chance to tell his story.”