A proud daddy

Ramji Londonwaley hits theatres nationwide this weekend and R Madhavan is keen to ensure his film makes the most at the box office. “This is a time when I cannot talk about anything else at all,” he says. Except for one thing, we guess.
Madhavan and his wife, Supriya are now the proud parents of their first child, a baby boy. “We have not decided on a name for him and I cannot wait to go back to my family now,” he says.
Coming back Londonwaley, where Madhavan plays a Bihari in London, he says, “The entire film was a great experience because the character potrayed a wide gamut of emotions on the screen.”
Many have raised a finger on his potrayal of a Bihari in the film but the actor makes it clear, “I was born in Jamshedpur, Bihar and spent a reasonable amount of time of my growing years there. I picked up my Bihari accent during those years so degrading Biharis would be the last thin on my mind. In fact, I believe that Biharis are one of the most forward thinking communities of the country. I am proud to be a Bihari.”
Ask him about his future projects and he shrugs it off, “I work on only one film at a time. You can call it a good policy or a bad one, but I believe in giving my best to the character I am potraying at the moment.” Now, that explains the huge timelines between his consecutive projects.
Shooting for Ramji Londonwaley was fun. “Since I was working with a newer face (Sambita Bhandari) I was eager to prove my acting skills as a senior,” he laughs. “It was as important a film to her and she did complete justice to her role.”
“During a break in the shooting for Ramji, we had visited a restaurant in London where the waiters had performed a song from Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein for us, it was really a great moment for me.”
With the release of Londonwaley, Madhavan will retreat to his family who are eagerly waiting to see the baby and the parents. Things are really good for this ‘proud Bihari’.

Published in Hindustan Times Next on September 1, 2005