‘I should have put my foot down’: Madhavan reveals the one Tamil film he regrets doing

R Madhavan may be one of the most accomplished pan-Indian actors today, but his career wasn’t without its share of stumbles. He started his career in acting over three decades ago, and recently confessed to one area of his personality that he should’ve focused more on in order to have an even more fulfilling career. No, it’s not choosing better scripts, but paying more attention to his appearance.

During a conversation with Madan Gowri, Madhavan opened up about a regret from the early days of his career. “I didn’t pay enough attention to my costumes and hair during the early stages of my career. I should have been more professional. Coming from a middle-class background, I never really thought about having people around me to take care of my costumes and hairstyling. It is important to focus on these aspects,” he admitted.

Madhavan got his break in films with the role of a crook in the ZEE show Yule Love Story back in 1993. He became a popular television face with Tony Singh and Deeya Singh’s popular ZEE TV show Banegi Apni Baat, which ran for four years. He continued to work in TV till 2000, before he got his break in Tamil cinema with Mani Ratnam’s hit musical romance Alaipayuthey.

The film Madhavan regrets

During the same conversation, Madhavan also picked a film that he regrets doing. “I think, with all due respect, it would be Vaazhthugal. I didn’t pay enough attention to the film. I should have put my foot down and been more involved in the process. I thought that when a big director and a good team came together, making the film would be easy. We assumed that if we did everything that was expected of us, the film would be a hit. But despite our efforts, it failed,” said the actor.

Vaazhthugal, released in 2007, was directed by Seeman, best known for his 2006 vigilante action film Thambi, starring Madhavan as the titular character of Thambi Velu Thondaiman, a rebellious youth who cannot tolerate violence and injustice. Despite returning to filmmaking after a gap of six years following the box office failure of his 2000 action film Veeranadai, starring Sathyaraj, Seeman managed to make Thambi a success.

Produced by T Siva for Amma Creations, Vaazhthugal also starred Bhavana opposite Madhavan, who played a socially aware and successful entrepreneur in the film. However, Vaazhthugal failed at the box office, leading to the actor and Seeman dropping the third film they were planning to work on together, Pagalavan. It also prompted Seeman to wind up his directorial career.

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Madhavan bounced back from the failure of Vaazthugal by starring in a critically acclaimed Hindi film in the same year, Nishikant Kamat’s Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008), Rajkumar Hirani’s 2009 blockbuster buddy comedy 3 Idiots a couple of years later, and Aanand L Rai’s 2011 romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu. In Tamil, Madhavan reclaimed his position as a successful leading star with N Lingusamy’s 2012 hit action comedy Vettai.