R. Madhavan

Ranganathan Madhavan (born 1 June 1970), known as R. Madhavan or Maddy, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film producer and film director who predominantly works in Tamil and Hindi cinema. He has won one National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards South, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and five SIIMA Awards. As of 2023, Madhavan is the President of FTII, Pune.

Madhavan attained his first break in Tamil cinema with Mani Ratnam's romantic drama ''Alai Payuthey'' (2000) and followed it with further romantic roles in Gautham Vasudev Menon's directorial debut ''Minnale'' and Madras Talkies' ''Dumm Dumm Dumm'' (both 2001). He had commercial successes in ''Run'' (2002), ''Jay Jay'' (2003), ''Thambi'' (2006) and ''Rendu'' (2006) and gained praise for his performances in ''Kannathil Muthamittal'' (2002), ''Anbe Sivam'' (2003), ''Nala Damayanthi'' (2003) and ''Aayutha Ezhuthu'' (2004). In the mid-2000s, Madhavan inclined to Hindi films with pivotal roles in three highly successful productions: the patriotism ''Rang De Basanti'' (2006), Mani Ratnam's biopic ''Guru'' (2007) and the comedy-drama ''3 Idiots'' (2009), which went on to become the highest-grossing Indian film of all time at the time of its release. Simultaneously, he continued to appear in Tamil films like ''Evano Oruvan'' (2007) and ''Yavarum Nalam'' (2009).

After delivering two box-office hits with ''Tanu Weds Manu'' (2011) and ''Vettai'' (2012), Madhavan took an acting break for 3 years and bounced back in 2015. His comeback films – the romantic comedy ''Tanu Weds Manu Returns'' (2015), the bilingual sports-drama ''Irudhi Suttru'' (2016) and the crime film ''Vikram Vedha'' (2017) all became critical and commercial successes. His portrayal of a boorish boxing coach in ''Irudhi Suttru'' fetched him Best Actor awards at the Filmfare, IIFA and SIIMA ceremonies. Madhavan made his directorial debut in ''Rocketry: The Nambi Effect'' (2022), in which he played the Indian rocket scientist Nambi Narayanan, which achieved universal acclaim and honours including the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. He has since played a negative role in the highly successful supernatural thriller ''Shaitaan'' (2024).

In addition to his acting career, Madhavan has worked as a writer on his films, hosted television programs and has been a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products. He has also worked as a film producer, first making ''Evano Oruvan'' with Leukos Films, before setting up Tricolour Films to produce ''Saala Khadoos'' (2016). Madhavan is noted for his philanthropic activities and promotes various causes such as environment, health, and education. He is particularly vocal about the protection of animals and was awarded PETA's Person of the Year recognition in 2011. In 2021, he was conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by D. Y. Patil Education Society, Kolhapur, for his contribution to arts and cinema. Provided by Wikipedia