32 Facts About R Madhavan

Ranganathan R Madhavan was born on 1 June 1970 in Jamshedpur, Bihar, India, to a Tamil Iyengar family.

In 1988, R Madhavan gained a scholarship to represent India as a cultural ambassador from Rajaram College, Kolhapur and spent a year in Stettler, Alberta, Canada, as part of an exchange program with Rotary International.

In early 1996, R Madhavan worked on a sandalwood talc advertisement directed by Santosh Sivan, who later recommended him to Mani Ratnam to take part in a screen test for a role in Iruvar.

In 1997, R Madhavan appeared in a supporting role as an Indian police officer in Fred Olen Ray's English film, Inferno, which was shot in India.

Similarly his first lead role in a Hindi film, Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein, a remake of his Minnale in which he reprised the same role for the remake, was unsuccessful at the box office, with the film and R Madhavan's performance receiving mixed reviews.

In 2002, R Madhavan played the role of a novelist in Mani Ratnam's Kannathil Muthamittal alongside actresses Keerthana, Simran and Nandita Das.

In late 2004, R Madhavan worked on Rajiv Anchal's English-Malayalam crossover film Nothing But Life and completed his work in a single schedule across Las Vegas and Albuquerque.

The film received praise for the lead pair's performances with R Madhavan being praised as "top class", while it became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Zulu.

From 2005 onwards, R Madhavan increased his work in Hindi films and starred and wrote the Hindi dialogues for the comedy Ramji Londonwaley, a remake of his earlier film Nala Damayanthi.

In 2010, R Madhavan appeared alongside actors Amitabh Bachchan and Ben Kingsley in Teen Patti as a young professor, with Adarsh again rating his performance as "excellent", but the film failed at the box office.

The film opened to positive reviews with R Madhavan's performance being described by Rediff.

In 2012, R Madhavan took a sabbatical and was based in Chicago resting his knee, which he injured during the making of Vettai, causing him to suffer from chondromalacia patellae.

The computer animated film, where R Madhavan provided voice work, premiered in San Diego during July 2015.

The critic from Bollywood Hungama wrote "R Madhavan excels in his role despite it being a restrained one, which was anyways the call of his character" and added "he is very endearing who never tries to overshadow anyone and emerges a winner", while Sify.

For dubbing purposes, R Madhavan wore metal braces inside his teeth, to create the effect of having a lisp that most boxers have from sporting injuries.

For Irudhi Suttru, R Madhavan received widespread critical acclaim for his portrayal with Sify.

For Breathe, R Madhavan studied his own experience as a father besides researching the complexities surrounding organ donation.

Between 2017 and 2022, R Madhavan worked on his first film as a director, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, a biopic on Indian rocket scientist Nambi Narayanan.

Alongside his directorial, screenwriting and acting credits, R Madhavan served as one of the producers of the project.

Apart from portraying the lead role, R Madhavan worked on the film as a dialogue writer and played an active role in determining the crew of the movie.

However, since the relative box office failure of the project, R Madhavan downplayed future involvement in production ventures.

The film, which R Madhavan referred to as a "part of his life" during 2007, saw him write the dialogues for the film along with Seeman by translating lines from the project's original version in the Marathi language.

However, R Madhavan quit as the lead anchor of the show in January 2006 claiming he was unhappy with the way the shoot schedules were handled by the production house.

In June 2010, R Madhavan made a comeback to the game show format by accepting a contract with Imagine TV's Big Money show, signing on to host a single season, and then hosted an episode of the crime show Savdhaan India in January 2016.

In 2016, R Madhavan stated that he would only take part in television commitments for money, while he does not consider his payment when signing on to appear in films.

In 2007, R Madhavan endorsed UniverCell, a multi-brand mobile phone retail chain owned by UniverCell Telecommunications India Pvt Ltd.

Maruti Suzuki, for whom R Madhavan is the brand ambassador, launched a special edition of the Suzuki Wagon R car calling it the R Madhavan Signature Edition in September 2013.

In 2015, online market place Snapdeal signed on Aamir Khan and R Madhavan to be the company's ambassadors, with Snapdeal attempting to use R Madhavan's popularity in South India to marker their services.

In July 2006, R Madhavan was voted the "cutest male vegetarian" by an online poll conducted by the PETA, while Kareena Kapoor won the female award respectively.

The first of the two games, R Madhavan's MIG, featured the actor reprising his role of a pilot from Rang De Basanti.

Narayana Murthy requested R Madhavan to be his interviewer at the India-Singapore Exposition and R Madhavan went on to claim that the experience was "unforgettable" as Murthy was an idol to him.

In 2009, R Madhavan relocated to Kandivali, Mumbai, with his wife and son, as he pursued a career in Hindi films ahead of films in the South Indian industries.