Madhavan On Playing Nambi Nambiar

“For me  acting is  rocket science these days,” chuckles Madhavan  the  Tamil-Hindi superstar who has completed 24 years as leading man.

Maddy, as he is  universally known, is currently playing , the veteran space scientist  Nambi Naraynan in AnanathMahadevan’s bio-pic.

Says Madhavan, “Nambi Narayanan could build  a rocket.I’ve learnt  to  construct  a rocket  from scratch. In fact both  my director Ananth and  I can build a rocket  if  we need  to,” says Maddy proudly .

Maddy’s past two years  have been consumed  by the Nambi Naraynan bio-pic. “My family has seen only bits and pieces  of me during the past two years.”

Ananth and  Maddy go back a  long way. “Ananth and I  worked  together on the very successful serial  Ghar Jamai way back in 1997 where I played Satish Shahji’s Tamilian son-in-law. And now  here we are together again. Small world, isn’t it?”

 The  vibes between the actor and  his favourite  director is palpable. So is the determination to make an extraordinary  film.

Says  Maddy, “We are determined to do justice to the extraordinary life of Nambi Naryanan. He is  one  of the many unsung heroes  of   our country who deserves to be  anointed with a worthy  film. I can’t think  of anyone more qualified  than my friend Ananth Mahadevan to make this film. He has researched thoroughly into Nambi Narayanan’s  life story before getting down to making the  film.”

 In  1994  Narayanan a space-research scientist at  the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) had been  falsely accused of espionage.

Says Madhavan , “We are  going into every aspect  of  Narayanan’s life without apology. There’s really  no  point  in  doing a bio-pic unless the complete  truth is told.”

The Nambi Narayanan bio-pic is being made simultaneously  into  Hindi, Tamil and  Emglish.

 Some years  ago Madhavan was signed to play another Tamil academic genius , the mathematician   Ramanujan.  But  the deal fell through and  the role finally went to Dev Patel who looked as Tamil as Shah  Rukh Khan in  Ra.One.

Says Madhavan gently, “It’s not important for an  actor to be culture specific. I mean Meryl Streep was not Polish , was she, when she  did Sophie’s Choice. And  Ben Kingsley is hardly Gujarati . But he played Mahatma  Gandhi flawlessly. It’s important  to capture  the essence , the soul of the character. I am trying to do that in the Nambi Narayanan bio-pic.”